The Lost ODSTs
by DWITD0421
Summary: War was all that David McCoy and his sister Archer had known since they were both sixteen. Now they find themselves continueing their original fight. The fight that had been keeping them going ever since they had been brought into the universe, The fight to protect others from oppression wherever they may be.
1. Chapter 1: The Storm

For there to be Darkness there has to be Light somewhere.

In the darkness of a storm on Madrigal during a battle between the rogue Covenant and the UNSC was taking place. At ONI site Brigand the site was falling apart. Before being forced to evacuate, two ODSTs 1st lieutenant Archer Stormcrow, and 1st lieutenant David McCoy were told to get in a warthog with everything that they own and all of their prototype training equipment training then head out to Juno base. They took a transport hog so that they could fit both of their belongings into the vehicle and therefore not take more than they needed. Being the only two ODSTs left at Brigand site, they left with more than enough MREs to last them a lifetime. Shortly after they left base they were never seen by the UNSC again. After the battle was over they were declared Missing In Action. This is their story.

Archer was driving this time. She was always the more awake one behind the wheel at night.

"Dang I'm glad that we got that hard top before we headed out. Wed be soaked right now if it wasn't for that thing."

Being deployed to an ONI base sure did have its perks. "

Although I wish this road wasn't so slick, I could at least get some sleep."

Not taking her eyes off the road Archer reached into her pocket and handed a Blue Bomber to her squadmate, a powerful sleeping agent used by the UNSC for decades that had helped many a soldier find sleep. "Thanks" said David

"Man driving in this crap sucks." said Archer

"If you want I can drive" replied David

"You just popped a blue bomber didn't you?"

"Not yet, you slid a little and I dropped it when you complained"

'I'd rather not, you need to sleep. It's been days since you slept longer than an hour. Even with all that coffee you still need sleep. I've managed to have a full night's sleep before we left, remember?"

"Alright you win." said David

"Wake me in a few hours then, unless something drastic happens."

"You got it". With that in mind David fell asleep with the help of the Blue bomber.

Daylight had risen and Archer had driven onto a country road that bisected a very large rolling plain. As the Sun rose archer took off her helmet to let free her Auburn hair and get some sunlight after removing her gloves and seeing how white they had turned from the previous light tan that she knew she said "I can't even remember the last time that I got some sun."

Thinking how she couldn't let her partner not see such beautiful sunrise she slugged him in the shoulder, hard.

"Ow" David said with a start.

"I knew that this was too good a moment for you to miss out on this sunrise, considering how fast you process blue bombers."

"It really is pretty isn't it? Although it's a little early for the sun to be rising don't you think?"

He looked at his watch and it read 0320. How long have we been out of the storm?

"A little under an hour, my watch says the same time so unless both our watches broke at 0320 it is strange" said Archer. Taking off his helmet and gloves David sat up in his seat and marveled at how pale he was. this was the first time he had seen any skin besides when going to the bathroom which he did with his full kit on in case of an immediate danger from the covenant that was amassing nearby at the time. " Dang we're pale" he said "It's like I never saw sunlight up at Brigand."

"I don't think we really did now that you mention it. All that guard duty at the checkpoints, escorting that one jackal to the detention block and driving around eggheads was all we really did huh?"

"Makes me miss that time out in the woods on Garuda at your Grandpa's cabin. When you two taught me that song."

"Yeah Grandpa was always cleaning his guns, thinking that we might try something. Until that is you challenged him to that blindfolded field strip contest"

"I didn't know what I was thinking, challenging an old Special Forces guy like him? What an idiot I was. We were both regular minutemen then, weren't we?"

"Yeah" said Archer

On the horizon David saw a low flying speck moving toward them.

"That doesn't look like covenant to me." David said while putting on his helmet to use the magnifier that was built in.

It had an Aqua accent along with the rest of his armor though it was mostly black The only thing besides the accents that was different was the logo on his Right shoulder plate that displayed a musket crossed by a lightning bolt with stars at the 12, 3, and 9, o'clock positions. Archer's had the same logo on the same side because they had both been Minutemen during a rebellion on Garuda between the Loyalists and the Insurrectionists. The Minutemen was an organization that was created to keep neutral settlements safe from both sides and the local bandits. After the Loyalists won the rebellion with the aid of the UNSC the Minutemen became part of the local police force. When a UNSC recruiter arrived at the Minutemen garrison where Archer and David were stationed the recruiter noticed the exceptional skill that the two possessed. He offered to recommend them for ODST's and both of them accepted.

When the speck got closer it became apparent that it wasn't alone. Two other specks were trailing the first one which had smoke and a dark liquid pouring out of it like black blood. "I think we should pull over." said David

The strange aircraft ,which was rather large, was flying right towards them and it appeared to be firing what looked like red plasma at the two smaller specks which looked like a ball connected to two hexagonal panels on each side. these were shooting what looked like green Plasma which further confused the ODSTs they didn't know of anything that shot Green plasma besides the small pistols that jackals and grunts carried. Those were certainly not ship mounted.

When the larger ship shot one of these hexagonal aircraft it crashed into the other and they crashed into the ground in a fiery explosion.

The other ship however appeared to be going down as well albeit in a more controlled manner. It soon became apparent that it would crash close by so Archer drove the jeep into the field to their left to get out of the way of the ship. It set down rather fast but with its landing gear deployed so that it came to a sliding stop on the road. when it was clear that the ship wasn't going to explode Archer drove back to the ship to see if they needed help.

This had been quite the op thought Sabine. First with the Empire reinforcing that supply depot without them knowing, then the TIE fighters, and now the Ghost was on fire under the starboard wing. They had trouble putting out the fire when she noticed a stranger in armor that she had never seen before. It looked kinda like Mandalorian armor but with more pockets, and this suit underneath the plating had a weird pattern that seemed to blend with the field. The armor itself was black with an aqua accent, then another emerged from the tall grass, this one similarly clad but appeared to have a different body type. What she really noticed though was that they were both carrying what looked like extinguishers.

"We're here to help" said the more feminine looking one. She didn't understand the writing on their chests. when the fire was put out with the help of the two stranger's extinguishers they all finally took a step back to look at the black scorched hull. Then Kanan walked over to the two strangers. "Do you speak Basic he asked?"

"I don't know what basic is but I can understand you." the larger one said before taking off his helmet to show that he was a human male with light brown hair and hazel eyes.

He had a small scar on the right side of his face under his ear. His skin was so pale, but it was obvious that that wasn't his natural color, she could just tell that about people. the other stranger removed her helmet to show a female human who was equally pale, with auburn hair, brown eyes, and a few scattered freckles. These two had not left their armor in a long time she thought.

"Great so you can understand me saying thank you for the help."

"We were nearby when we saw your ship and those others chasing you which brings up my next question. Who were those people chasing you?"

He said this with his right hand resting on what looked like a very large pistol that Sabine had never seen before, with a long barrel and this weird thing that jutted from the top at a 90 degree angle. It also had a smaller handle jutting out from the bottom towards the front. The other human had a similar weapon that lacked the long tube on the end of the weapon. What really intrigued her however was the weird thing that looked like a lightsaber on his left side but had a strange grip.

"You didn't recognize those fighters? Your lucky to not have had them near your settlement. Those were TIE fighters. We had something that they wanted."

"Who were they?" said the man his hand now tightening on his pistol. "And what are TIE fighters I've never heard of those before, have you Archer?"

Archer appeared to be the human female who had her helmet clipped to her belt and her hand on her weapon. "Never heard of them either" she said.

"You do know what the empire is right?" asked Kanan

"Nope" said both of the strangers

"OK then why don't we calm down and talk about this like civilized beings before we resort to violence. allow me to explain what this is all about. As long as you keep an open mind I can explain all that is happening. now would you like to come inside what is left of our ship?" said Kanan.

"I don't see why not." said the man releasing his grip on the pistol. "Do you mind if we bring my vehicle closer so that we can keep an eye on it?"

"By all means do so" said Kanan.

The man offered Kanan his hand saying "My name is David McCoy."

"Kanan" was the reply as Spectre 1 shook his hand.


	2. Chapter 2: learning the land

He who helps those in need is truly a great man

"Are you gonna want something to drink" asked Kanan

"Would you happen to have anything by the name of coffee?" asked Archer

"I might have something like that. is this coffee a bean that is roasted, ground and then boiled to make a drink?"

"That is dead on." answered Archer

"To us it is commonly referred to as Caf so if you want it anywhere else ask for that. luckily for you, most of the Galaxy runs on this stuff."

"At least we've got that going for us, but which galaxy is this exactly we're still on Madrigal right?" asked David.

"As far as i'm aware you are on the planet of Lothal a large planet with mostly rolling plains and unique rock formations."

In the Galaxy I am from the governing empire is ruled by an absolute monarchy over hundreds of planets under the control of the former Galactic Republic. The current government came into being at the end of the clone wars, a large civil war that consumed our Galaxy for several of what we call years do you understand what time system that I am referring to?."

"We had a system where our calendar revolved around our core planet Earth, which had seven days a week which was one rotation of that planet, four weeks a month, and 12 months a year. this is used in communication between planets to have a standardized time system." explained David.

"Alright so the Clone wars went on for several years before a sith by the name of darth vader destroyed theJjedi order. The Jedi were the galactic peace keeping force. They were adept at the manipulation of the force. The force is what we call every living thing in the galaxy as a collective. Though much of the information on this matter is strictly controlled by the empire I knew a man who worked for the Jedi. They could move objects many times their size and mass almost effortlessly.

Now that they're gone and the mission that they stood for is not being achieved, we are under the tyrannical control of the Emperor and his Moffs. Moffs are like supervisors for star systems. They all answer to Grand moff Tarkin, a heartless and brutal man. He answers directly to the Emperor. anything that the Emperor wants is done, there is no constitution and what he calls the senate has no power at all. The Emperor also has a small task force of force adepts that use the dark side of the force to be the emperor's hands when he can't be there. Usually he is on Coruscant which he calls Imperial Center because it is the capital planet. We on the other hand live way out at the edge of the empire so we didn't have much of an imperial presence until a group of rebels started causing problems for the Imperials. The Imperials mistook our ship for a rebel one and had orders to shoot us down before we could explain.

"Then we crash land and you help us out with the fire extinguishers."

"So you're telling us that we're in another completely different galaxy from the one we knew?" asked Archer.

"From your confusion I would say yes but how large was the galaxy you knew?" asked Kanan

"It spanned across hundreds of worlds with thousands of others that we hadn't explored yet."

"Well it appears that you are some very lost people." said Kanan.

"Could you excuse me for a second" asked David

"Feel free to walk around outside."

"Thanks."

Archer and David both stood and exited the room and think.

Outside of the ship over on the edge of the road Archer and David sat down. It was mid afternoon by now and the sun was at their backs.

"How could we have gotten here" asked David.

"It was a rather weird storm. It didn't look any different but it just didn't feel right. That's why I drove off that road onto this one."

"You drove on this road for a long time didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Part of me wants to puke right now but the other part is saying that I would disgrace the ODSTs. who should I listen to?" asked David

"Your pride" said Archer.

"Okay"

After a few minutes they heard a clunk, a loud bang, and then what sounded like swearing that they didn't really understand.

"What is a Nerf?" asked Archer. When the arguing had died down a green alien with two appendages protruding from the back of her head started walking over. Her flight suit was covered in what looked like oil. "Hi, I'm Hera,I hate to ask more of you but both of our ships are broke and there are some parts that I need to go into a nearby settlement for." she said.

"I think I'm good for a drive" said Archer

"Alright I'll let kanan know what we need and he can ride with you" said Hera

"How far is this settlement?" asked David who was sitting in the back with all of his belongings so he could also see what this planet's populace was like.

"Just a few more Kilometers" said Kanan who was sitting in the passenger seat.

A few minutes later the settlement came into view.

It was a small and squat settlement that looked as if it was sighing with sadness. When Archer drove into town the people all kept their eyes low, shuffling along. "What happened?" asked Archer.

"They're not doing well off, what with the tax on crops that the Empire has set. Even on a good year there is barely enough to go around. Then the Empire starts taxing and raiding outlying settlements. A lot of the people are under fed and the import tax makes it almost impossible to get food. A lot of shanty towns have sprung up in the settlements." explained Kanan. As they were driving down the main road they passed a squad sized element of soldiers in all white armor.

"Those are Imperial stormtroopers" said Kanan. They're typically clones but some of them are graduates of the academies the Empire has set up on a lot of worlds. The officers are always academy graduates though. They can't shoot straight to save their lives but there are a lot of them. They're also not too bright and easily fooled." Let's park by that Cantina, I know the owner.

Archer parked in front of the Cantina that had an interesting upper level. It appeared to have been made out of an aircraft nose of some sort the wings on either side.

"I would leave someone here. there are a lot of thieves on Lothal now."Kanan recommended

"I'll stay here" said Archer "Is there anything I should know about the drinks?"

"Don't drink the regular tap, ask for the red star's brew. It tastes good and won't hammer you. Here are some credits but stick with your own food for now." replied Kanan

"Got it" she said taking the metallic coins with numbers that looked similar to the ones that she knew but had small areas cut away in them, before walking into the cantina, still keeping an eye on the warthog as she walked over to the counter and removed her helmet.

"Now i'll show you what we need and the monetary system here. You know how to barter, right?"

"I've had my fair share of bartering with smugglers so I can't imagine anything more difficult. they also accept food right?"

"That is the most valued currency right now." said Kanan.

When they walked into the market David noticed that there was almost nothing for sale. The stalls seemed ran down and the owners looked tired. Kanan stopped by a shop,containing what looked like engine parts. "Stay here." Kanan said "This shop owner doesn't like strangers too much so just keep an eye out ok. "

"Got it" replied the ODST.

After Kanan entered the shop he polarized his visor and leaned against the outside wall. The dust that seemed to be on everything was blowing gently in the wind. Down the lane he saw the stormtroopers from earlier and the officer had stopped in front of a stand being run by a humanoid alien. This one seemed to be more brave than the others, standing and he seemed to be denying the officer service, saying that the fruits were already sold was what he heard.

"Well the owner of these fruits has just become me" is what the officer said before two storm troopers moved in to take the crate full of what appeared to be some kind of tree fruit. The owner tried to stop them but another stormtrooper hit him with the butt of his rifle and he doubled over. The two troopers walking away with the crate carried it over to some sort of hover tank. When the squad left David walked over to the alien. "Are you alright" he asked.

"Yes I'm fine, those blasted Imperials took my share of a deal. I can't feed my family without it."

Reaching into the pack on his back he pulled out three MREs and handed it to him.

"These will each feed an adult human for a whole day. If you have children split one between them."

"Thank you." stammered the alien.

While he was walking away the alien asked "Who are you?"

Turning towards the twi'lek "I'm a Minuteman" he said as he tapped on his right shoulder plate.

David then turned and walked back to the shop as the sun began to go down. When Kanan came out of the shop they turned back towards the cantina and the Twi'lek went home.

On the drive home David explained what happened to the shopkeeper. Kanan smiled and remained silent while Archer was asking Kanan why the stormtroopers would attack a small fruit stand. He was explaining all of this when a small bump in the road knocked David into a small crate full of MREs. He took a few out and stuffed them into his rucksack, attaching a broken down one to his left shoulder plate with some duct tape.

When they got back to the Ship which the two ODSTs learned was called the ghost, and the smaller one in the back called the Phantom they helped Kanan and an alien called Zeb off-load the ship parts. When they were done David turned to Kanan and asked "Do you know where the rebellion is?"

"Yes" was Kanan's answer.


	3. Chapter 3: Meeting the Rebels

We live in the shadows so that those in the light do not have to fear darkness

"You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too bad that your love drives a man insane. You broke my will, but what a thrill. Goodness gracious great balls of fire!"was all that David heard as his TacPad played his alarm that he had set seven hours ago. When he reached over to the pocket that was sown into the side of his hammock he slid the bar that would turn off his alarm. When he turned the music off he heard Warren Smith's "Uranium Rock" coming out of Archer's hammock. When both of them rose out of their cots, they both looked around remembering that they were both hanging from the ceiling of a cargo bay. Then they remembered how they weren't in their own galaxy. Accepting that what had happened wasn't a dream, they both dressed in their hammocks before rising out and carefully jumping back over the safety rail. When they did this David said "Do I smell coffee?"

"No, but it's almost exactly the same" David turned to look at Hera looking down on them through the hatch above them. "Just made a fresh pot, though we're probably gonna go through more than a few before we're ready to get back in gear."

Sabine walked out of the observation area on the nose of the ship, looking tired. "I'll be sleeping, don't bother me" was all she could mutter before climbing up the ladder and going into her room down the hall.

"Was she the night watch?" asked Archer

"Yeah, every other night one of us has to stay up during our sleep cycle. Chopper is the watch on the other nights. Now come on up and get some Caf, before Zeb drinks it all."

When they had all sat down in the booth or on various crates and got their Caf, everyone began to eat Breakfast. Ezra, Zeb and Kanan had something that resembled cereal. Archer and David shared an MRE, not wanting to take more than they needed, considering that they needed to borrow a shipping container to transfer their warthog to the other ship. "Will we be seeing you guys again?" asked Ezra.

"Maybe" replied David "I do get around pretty well when you think about it." A few of the people at the table chuckled, thinking that they might not see the two friendly strangers again. When chopper called from the bridge to let them know that Fulcrum's ship was approaching, Hera went up to exchange prearranged code words. One could never be too careful in times like these. When the two ships docked, David, Archer, and Sabine quickly made the transfer with the shipping container. The ODST's vacuum rated armor would only last them thirty minutes so it was done quickly and efficiently. Once this was completed and a still very tired Sabine went back to bed after saying goodbye, the crew exchanged farewells before the two ODSTs walked down the airlock with Hera.

"Well, at least we can meet this Fulcrum person." said David.

"I doubt you actually will" said Hera. "He likes to keep his identity secret for security reasons. It's so that if someone is captured they can't tell what they don't know."

"Man, I hate it when those people are in charge." said Archer.

When the airlock opened on the other side they were greeted by an old Human Male with a full salt and pepper beard, who appeared to be an officer of sorts.

"Sarlacc" he challenged.

Stopping the group Hera replied "Ton-ton"

"Captain Delarue at your service" said the man stepping aside to allow passage into the ship. David noticed the pistol strapped to his leg seemed to turn off when he flipped a small switch. Filing this knowledge away for later use he walked through the door carrying his kit bag over his shoulder. He was too wide and didn't notice it until he became stuck in the door.

"Oh, sorry" he said to the two people stopped behind him as he backed up, turned his kit bag to where it would fit, and then walked through. Leaving Hera a small data disk, the captain left Hera to go back to her ship. When the Ghost disconnected they watched it turn and then go into hyperspace. "Well that's definitely the fastest thing I've ever seen." said David. The captain seemed surprised at this.

"You don't have faster than light travel?" he asked

"No we do, we just do it differently" replied Archer.

"Alright then let me show you your room." replied the Captain.

When Archer and David had set their things down in their sparsely furnished bunk room they went down to the cargo bay to check on their other belongings inside of the container. satisfied that they were secure the captain walked them up a staircase to a door with a sign over that after checking their notebooks they found out read Armory. Realizing that they both still had their weapons on them it seemed to make sense that a captain wouldn't want two armed, possibly hostile, warriors running around on his ship. When they entered both of the ODSTs began to take off all of their weapons.

This was rather tricky considering that the Master of Arms aboard the ship had never even heard of the weapons that the ODSTs carried with them. He had to ask them to show him the basic functions of each weapon before he could put them in a locker with their names printed on them. ODSTs however carry a lot of weapons, and remembering all of the others inside of the shipping container that they took from the armory at ONI site Brigand it took several lockers to accommodate all of the weapons.

Three full weapons lockers and five bins later the ODSTs were left with David's sword and both Archer and David having two knives on their armor that they didn't want to give up. Thinking about it David realised that there was enough explosives and cartridges to tear a quarter of the ship away and warned the Master of Arms accordingly.

After all of this and the nearby crewmembers ogling at these strange, foreign, weapons that were quite numerous, the Captain escorted the two ODSTs to two separate rooms, one for each of them. "Wait here" he said.

The room consisted of a mirror on a wall, a table, two chairs, and a small device where the ceiling met the two cornering walls that he suspected was a camera from his previous anti-interrogation training at Basic training and the Advanced course with the ODSTs. Checking his Tac-pad he realized that he couldn't get a signal out. Knowing then and there that this was an interrogation room with a two way mirror, he sat down on the chair on the far side of the room, opposite the door. Deciding that he needed to brush up on his chess game so he could beat archer and break the twentyseven game tie, he pulled up the holo chess that he kept inside his BDU pocket. He set the computer to level seven out of ten, and he began a game against the computer.

Halfway through his second game with the computer the door opened and in walked an orange skinned alien. This one had three appendages that protruded from her head that were striped horizontally blue and white. She also had these patterns tattooed all over her body. She was wearing clothing that looked to be made out of some form of leather. David could tell that this was clothing that was for everyday use, but could very easily fight with it on. This person also appeared to have a strange feeling emanating from her. At first he just thought that it was something with the air quality but it grew stronger as she grew nearer. Standing and reaching out his hand David greeted her saying, "Hello my name's David McCoy"

"Hello my name is Ahsoka Tano" was the alien woman's reply. "Please remain seated. interesting game," she said. "would you mind explaining it to me?"

"Not at all" was David's reply. "This game is called Chess. There are two sides, white and black. Both sides start on opposite sides of each other." He said this as he was resetting the pieces. "The objective is simple, eliminate the king" he explained as he tapped on a tall piece towards the middle that had a cross on the top. "There are three ways to win, putting the killing the king, making it to where the king cannot move, or your opponent conceding. Both sides have ten pawns he tapped the small pieces in the front, two rooks," he tapped on the building looking pieces "two knights," tapping on the Ton-ton looking ones, "two bishops, a queen" he tapped on the tall piece next to the king, "and obviously the king. Some people like me and Archer play with timers. This teaches you that you do not have an eternity to make a move. I would delve deeper, but I know that you're not here to learn about a new game."

"That is correct, what I'm here to find out is what you want right now."

"What I want right now is a good French pressed coffee with three teaspoons of unprocessed sugar." replied David sarcastically

"I'm sorry, but what were those things that you requested." asked Ahsoka, confused about what anything that David had just requested was. She had never heard of a French press, or Sugar. she did know that Coffee meant Caf from her transmissions with Hera, but she had never mentioned anything about this.

"I have all of those things right now but they're in the Shipping container. I'm assuming that that door can only be opened from the outside, am I correct?" poked David.

"you are."

"Then why don't we take a stroll down to my jeep where I can show you what I am referring to."


	4. Chapter 4: Coffee,Firefights and Pirates

Gimme three steps

¨Man, I forgot how much stuff we brought¨ David muttered to himself as he opened up the shipping container that held his jeep and other belongings. After climbing into the bed of the warthog he reappeared holding a few glass jars. One had a dark brown powder, one had a light tan colored powder and the last one was empty. Except for a sort of mesh attached to a rod that traveled down the jar to the flat mesh.

"Now all that I need is some boiling water." David muttered to himself.

Jumping back into the bed of the truck there was a loud thunk and something that sounded like curses to Ahsoka that mostly started with a sh- sound, or fu- sound. Eventually he came back out with a small box that had metal coils in a circle in the middle and a kettle in his other hand. After gathering his stuff together he sat down on a crate, put the box onto another one and set the kettle onto the metal coils of the small box. While he was doing this he reached for a canteen on his belt and poured some water into the he had done with this he looked up from his work and beckoned for Ahsoka to come and have a seat next to him.

" Now that i've got this going it seems like it would be a shame to not share it with some more people besides just us, don't you think?"

Realising that David had backed her into a corner and that she would look hostile towards him if she didn't release Archer to join them she commed the guard outside of Archer's room to tell him to bring her to them. The water was already boiling by the time Archer arrived with the guard. After pulling up another box to sit down on David made his coffee in the french press.

" So now that we've got our coffee, why don't we get down to the reason why we're really here?" Asked David looking at Ahsoka.

"Hera said that you were looking for help" Said Ahsoka

"Quite the opposite actually, I at least want to help those who are starving. But I want to know if i'm picking the right side before I make a choice."

Alarms and a Klaxon Began to sound shortly before an explosion rocked the ship. _

"Sir we're detecting one ship that matches the markings of the suspected smuggling ship that we followed from Dantooine." Reported the radar technician aboard the Light Imperial Cruiser Atarka.

"Open a channel to the ship and prepare a boarding party"

"Aye sir."

"Attention vessel, I am Lieutenant Commander Breetai, Captain of the Atarka. You are hereby ordered to cut your engines and prepare to be boarded, in the name of the Emperor. This is your only warning."

"Sir, the vessel is turning to flee"

"Disable the vessel" ordered the captain

"Aye sir, Bow turbolasers firing"

As the rebel ship was turning the forward heavy turbolasers fired at the engines of the fleeing ship. After two ranging shots, the gunners found their mark and disabled the engines of the ship.

"Send out the shuttle lieutenant" ordered the the Captain.

"Aye sir" replied the lieutenant

"What was that?" exclaimed Archer as she reached for her helmet

"Attention all hands, General Quarters, General Quarters. All Marines prepare to repel boarding party at the Port side docking Hatch." blared the Captain's voice through the PA system.

"We need to get to our weapons." David told Ahsoka.

"You need to stay in your rooms." Was Ahsoka's Reply before turning towards the main corridor to reach the port hatch before an explosion cast a piece of metal into the air and it struck her and their guard in the head knocking them both unconscious. After both David and Archer checked to make sure that they were still alive they loaded them into the shipping container and sealed it. Once the seal was secure Archer and David sprinted up the stairs to the Armory. When they got there, the Master at arms immediately handed them their weapons, not asking questions. Following the armed crew members to the entry point they all stacked up in defensive positions.

David noticed that many of the sailors were very close to the door and shouted for them to get back. As soon as they turned their heads the blast doors blew in from an explosion. Deciding that the boarders had no intention of saving any of the crew members, both David and Archer opened Fire the moment a white armored individual stepped through the door. After a few shots from David's DMR and Archers Battle rifle the first pair of troopers were dead. More troopers were entering the ship right behind them and many of the crewmembers were falling around the ODSTs. When the sergeant in charge of the Marines was wounded Archer disengaged and Dragged the Rodian back around the corner to cover by his weapons harness. After three more pairs gained a foothold in the Hallway the Marines and ODSTs had no choice but to retreat. When the last Marine was through they closed the blast doors. Most of The Marines were panicking and woefully inexperienced. Most of them appeared to be young, undertrained, and under equipped from the wear and tear that was visible on the weapons. The Marines were dragging their wounded and dead out of the way in a few seconds before David noticed that there was something cutting through the Door again. Backing everyone to a more defendable position he put a few grenades on the ground next to his feet, where they would be faster to access. Instead of blowing inward this time the Door simply fell forward with a loud thud after the troopers were done cutting. David had already activated one of his grenades and tossed it by the time the door stopped moving, catching the troopers off-guard and decimating a squad. Seeing this act the Marines cheered and rallied. They began to kill more of the troopers until eventually they had retaken the hallway and had begun entering the shuttle with David and Archer leading the way.

Stacking up on the entrance David looked at Archer and grabbed a flash grenade and lobbed it inside. After the flash, David charged into the cargo bay to find three blinded troopers, along with a pilot, and an officer of sorts. They were all huddled behind a small container that looked to contain fuel. Capitalizing on the soldiers being blind David immediately put them on the ground while the Marines cleared the rest of the ship. Zip Tying their hands behind their backs, David removed the troopers helmets and any weapons from them. When the prisoners had been dragged from the shuttle with their hands bound David heard a voice emanating from the helmet of one of the troopers helmets. "Trooper CTR-516, Report!"

Removing his helmet David donned the white helmet and said "CTR-516 reporting. We have succeeded in capturing the vessel but the shuttle was uhh, damaged. We will uh, need you to dock and offload us.

"Excellent, but what happened to the comlink? It went silent for a time"

"Uhhhh, A blast knocked my, uh, helmet into a bulkhead sir. Uh, everythings fine now sir."

"Very well, Prepare any survivors to be offloaded at the Starboard side Hatch until we can Recover the shuttle. Atarka out."

Ripping off the helmet, David ran to one of the nearby officers. "You need to get your men to the starboard side now and be ready to counter board a cruiser"

"What are you talking about?

"I just listened to a Conversation on a troopers helmet they're coming in on the Other side." Said David brandishing the helmet in his left hand.

When the officer realised what had happened he left a few of his men to finish sweeping the shuttle and they were soon sprinting down to the opposite side docking hatch. When they reached it David had the Marines hide behind some doors in ambush. When the Atarka docked the hatch was opened and some stormtroopers walked in followed by an officer who looked to be junior. When the troopers and officer walked through david triggered another flash grenade that left the troopers stunned and gave the marines ample time to take down the boarding party without them putting up much of a fight. Most of the boarding party was taken alive thankfully before David, Archer and some more Marines charged into the cruiser. After they cleared a few corners a squad of troopers spotted the counter-boarding party and opened fire.

"Take cover" yelled Archer as she dove for cover in a doorway. The marines had yet to round the corner before Archer dove. When the Marines saw blaster bolts traveling down the hall one of them took out a thermal detonator and tossed it down the hallway. After the explosion the Marines advanced another few corridors until they entered the barracks.

"Where do you think the troopers are asked one of the marines"

"I don't know." Answered another directly before an explosion rocked the ship a little.

"It came from the opposite side." Said the last remaining sergeant who looked to have some combat experience.

"But who would be helping us? No one knows where we are." Asked the lieutenant.

"Whoever they are they're obviously enemies of the Empire and the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Yelled David as he led the troopers down another were at the point where the tuning fork of the ship began when the Marines and ODSTs saw a few stray blaster bolts hit the wall near a corner. Halting the group Archer poked her head around the corner to see the stormtroopers running directly towards them.

Priming a trip mine Archer left it and pushed the group back to ambush the retreating troopers. When the first trooper tripped the wire, a three second delay started before the mine shot out electricity all throughout the hall, incapacitating most of the troopers and stunning the rest. When David, Archer and the Marines charged down the corridor to zip tie the Marines the Stormtroopers, Blaster wielding aliens rounded the corner weapons drawn. They were a mix, matched group with varying weapons and armor. None of them looked like they had even heard of a shower. The leader of the group immediately stopped, and aimed his weapon at the marines. The rebels did likewise but neither side pulled the trigger.

"So how's this gonna go? Are you gonna talk first, am i gonna talk first or are we just gonna stand here all day?" Asked David sarcastically as he lowered his weapon, recognizing that these were pirates who were in it for the money and had a boss.

"Are you some of those rebels that we found?" Asked the leader, a male Twi'lek wearing a stormtrooper chest plate that had been painted red.

"That depends upon who's asking" retorted Archer who had not lowered her weapon.

"Hondo Ohnaka, is who's asking" said a voice before its owner rounded the corner. He was a Weequay who looked to be a little old for his species.

"Why don't we work together for now. Our forces combined can take the ship and we can work out a price later."

"Then for now we are allies against the empire. Now let us finish taking the ship" Answered the Weequay as he shook hands with David.


	5. Chapter 5: The First Battle

If only, if only the fanboy sighed, the story of star wars belonged to this guy, if only, if only.

-DWITD0421

To those of you who were wondering, This story will only involve the Halo universe with the ODSTs. If you want to see any of the big stuff, you'll have to check out my other book called Task Force Red Moon. now without further adou Chpt. 5: The Atarka

Aboard the Imperial Light Cruiser Atarka, David McCoy, Archer Stormcrow, and a band of rebel marines have just boarded the imperial cruiser after they tricked them into docking with their damaged cruiser.

"Do you think that putting any sort of trust into those pirates is wise?" asked the Marine lieutenant who was technically in charge, but was inexperienced and had the good sense to let the far more experienced ODSTs lead the group.

"No I do not believe that that is wise, but I don't trust them at all, which is why you need to be careful when you see any of them and don't lower your weapons until ordered otherwise." replied David. Upon hearing this the lieutenant re shouldered his weapon. The group continued down through the last few halls before reaching the turbolift that would reach the bridge.

"Is their any other way up?" asked David

"Nope, that's how much the imperials care about their soldiers. Next to no emergency escape systems at all." Answered the Lieutenant.

"Well it looks like we'll have to take the elevators." Said Archer

The squad split into two groups with the lieutenant leading one group and the ODSTs leading the other. The group with the ODSTs split into small groups so that they could fit into the turbolifts.

"Dang it, I left that translator in the crate, marine which button takes us to the bridge" asked David. The Marine gave David a bewildered look before saying "the 2nd one from the top"

"I never learned to read Republic Basic" Explained David but this didn't change the Private's expression as the lift began to rise. As the lift slowed down David primed a Flash grenade. When the lift stopped, David and the other marine with him stacked up on opposite sides. When the door opened David held back, waiting for the first burst of blaster bolts that did not fail to arrive. The burst turned out to be long and both he and the marine grimaced as they tried to become as small as possible, hoping that the blasters wouldn't destroy the the blaster bolts stopped he threw in the flash grenade, waited for the flash and charged in, the sharp crack of his DMR becoming the only sound that he heard through his helmet's earphones.

After he and the rest of his Marines dispatched the stormtroopers, David did a quick visual scan of the bodies to see if anyone was still alive. Sure enough, a white skinned officer had been wounded in his stomach, but not mortally. Judging by the row of red and blue squares on a plaque attached to his vest compared to the others he appeared to be the captain. The only other men who appeared to be alive was a junior officer who emerged from the battle dazed, but unscathed, and the last one who was still alive was a stormtrooper who had taken a bullet to his right arm and a blaster bolt to his left leg. The bullet had passed clean through his arm at a point where the armor wasn't covering and it missed the artery. The blaster bolt had hit the armor plate, burned through it, and then charred the skin down a few centimeters. Neither wound was life threatening but the trooper wouldn't be doing much moving for a while.

"Sir, the bridge is ours" said the marine who had rode up the elevator with David.

"Alright private, secure the prisoners and lock them into a storeroom." Said david as he opened a comm channel to the lieutenant to let him know that they were coming down. Leaving two marines behind, the rest of the group went down the turbo lift. When David and the same private were in the lift again David asked "Hey kid, what's your name?"

The young human marine looked up and answered "Nasser, I'm from Tatooine"

"You been with these guys long?"

"Nah, just joined the crew a few weeks ago. Thought that I could end the empire myself, look how wrong I was." Said the marine as a tear began to roll down his eyes.

"Hey man, we've got a job to do. Come see me when this is all over." Said david, as he nudged Nasser on his shoulder.

"What's your name sir?" Asked Nasser as he dried his eyes

"David, nice to meet you Nasser."

The turbolift slowed to a halt and the doors opened with the two occupants ready to fight. The hallway was empty but the fight wasn't too far away judging by the sound of gunfire.

after assessing that everyone was accounted for. Archer yelled "Alright Marines let's go!"They left five more marines behind and which left them with only fifteen marines to take the engine room. The only other support that would be available to them were the pirates and even that wasn't guaranteed.

The marines passed a few bodies that still had smoldering blaster wounds. They all stopped to check that each person was alive still, finding no survivors. Another few corridors down they were forced to make a left turn to the engine room. When they got to the engine room they found two stormtrooper bodies on the floor with multiple blaster wounds in various parts of their bodies. There was what sounded like a battle going on on the other side of the door. When David poked his head around the corner he saw what was left of the stormtroopers being pinned down by the numerically superior pirates. Signalling to his squad to follow him he ran to the closest cover h could find which was a large tubular object that connected to what looked like some sort of engine. Spotting the WeeQuay that had made the temporary truce with him, David told Archer to stay here with the marines and then he ran to Hondo.

"Ahh, my rebel friends, tell me, are we going to be expecting anyone else aboard this very expensive ship?" Said Hondo as he sat down behind a crate.

"We shouldn't but your men don't seem to be offering any sort of surrender. They might be important."

"I doubt it, this is only a light cruiser"

"I could of sworn that I saw a senior officer back there. He also looked, very expensive." Said David while putting emphasis on expensive. This got Hondo's attention which prompted him to order his soldiers to stop shooting. When the shooting stopped David rose and saw a small white handkerchief on the end of the barrel of a rifle.

"Very well, less blood to clean up" muttered Hondo.

"If you lay down your arms, we will treat you fairly." Yelled David

"And what exactly does fairly mean to you?" Yelled back a voice from behind a large stack of crates that seemed to make up the bulk of their cover.

Article 13 of the Geneva convention of 1949 states 'Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited,and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention. In particular, no prisoner of war may be subjected to physical mutilation or to medical or scientific experiments of any kind which are not justified by the medical, dental or hospital treatment of the prisoner concerned and carried out in his interest.

Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited.' Those are the rules that will be guaranteed to you. Anything other than that will be based upon your behavior and available resources. You had better take this offer now while I can still guarantee your safety." David said this last sentence while looking at Hondo and any other pirates nearby.

"If you can guarantee what you say, then my men and I will surrender without incident." Yelled the voice again.

"Let them out" yelled Hondo. Upon hearing this the pirates backed up alittle and first a gloved pair of hands appeared around the side of the containers and dropped a rifle. After the rifle clattered to the ground, a short stormtrooper who wasn't a clone walked out with his hands raised. Soon others followed behind the first with the last one being a junior officer who had been the voice in the negotiations. After walking past the band of growling and sneering pirates the soldiers stopped in front of David.

"This is not the expensive officer that you saw." Said Hondo.

"That's because I didn't see one. I only needed you and your men to stop firing."

"Ohohoho, I like your style my dear rebel friend, but I still need to make a profit off of this adventure." Said Hondo, his business like nature reemerging.

"How about this then." Said Nasser "We get the cannons, and you get the ship."

"What, how could I possibly sell you those? That is an eighth of the ship's worth" Exclaimed Hondo in outrage.

"Don't forget, that it was us who immobilised the ship, not you. We also helped take the ship. Were not asking for the whole thing mind you. You still make a profit, and we don't get into an unnecessary fight." Said David looking over his shoulder at Nasser he whispered "How much would those cannons be worth to us?"

"Well if we can't use them then they'd be worth at least 5,000 credits on any market" Replied Nasser

"We'll discuss how you know this when we get back."

"So Hondo, do we have a deal?"Asked David as he took off his helmet and clipped it to his belt.

"You know that I could just kill you and take the ship for myself right?" Said Hondo with a smirk on his face and his hand resting on his holstered blaster.

"But that would cause further damage which would cost you lots of money to fix. Money that you could be spending on other things I might add." Rebuttled David.

"Well when you put it that way, it seems like we have a deal." Said Hondo as he reached to shake hands with David. "And now, we feast at home. Tell me my friends, would you like to join us on Felucia?"

"No I'm pretty sure that we need to fix our ship" Replied David while saking Hondo's hand.

"Good, because I wouldn't have fed you anyways." Said Hondo before bursting into a tirade of laughter.

"Didn't expect you too. Now how are we gonna remove those cannons?" Said david as he turned to the lieutenant.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hurry up my rebel friends, we want to get this done while we're young, no?"

"Were going as fast as we can Hondo, This isn't exactly easy; these turrets were not designed to come back out."

"Yes, but the sooner that you get them out, the sooner I can sell this ship. I don't want to be caught by the Empire with this thing."

"Will you too quit arguing? Hondo, you're lucky that we're doing this job ourselves, and kid we're lucky to be getting these things; so both of you need to stop whining."

"There it's free" replied a now very relieved crewman who was one of only a few people who was certified in exo atmospheric conditions. The last turbo laser was now gently floating towards the rebel ship where another crew member was waiting to catch the very heavy turbolaser.

Towards where the port side on the IMS Atarka's outer hull, David McCoy is using an arc welder to seal the hole where the Port side turret was.

(David's POV)

"Lieutenant, get down!" came the voice of the technician. Turning around quickly before flattening out, I dove into the shallow where the turbolaser was and flattened myself out as much as I could in my armor. The Turbolaser glided over my head in a slow arc. I feel something drag lightly on my back but otherwise the turbolaser continued unimpeded before completely passing over me. I See the shadow thrown by the turbolaser passed over me before I lift my head and silently turn to look at the technician who had sent the turbolaser flying.

"Sorry lieutenant" came the technicians voice over the radio.

"You do realise that you could have broken something in my suit with that, or sent me into space?!" I yell. The technician visibly flinched at my voice over the radio. Still angry at him I bark "Well get over here and check to make sure you didn't break anything." Slowly he began to walk over to me check my armor over.

"There's nothing broken, but there's a little bit of paint gone." Said the tech after completing his check over.

"Alright lets finish patching the holes and get back inside. I've got twenty minutes left of air." I sigh "Aye sir."

By the time that the starboard side hole was patched, I was down to five minutes of air and had to go back inside on the Atarka and walked back over to the rebel ship. When I was walking over to the other ship Hondo stopped me at the door.

"You know my friend, if you ever need any sort of work done, I will probably be available for a price." Said Hondo "If you should need me, you only need to go to the ACPD in the Ainok system. That place also has a lot of opportunities for do-gooders like you."

"What do you mean?" I ask mildly interested.

"Their police force is severely lacking in the number of warm bodies."

I Say "I'll keep that in mind"

I cross the threshold of the door before it seals itself and I put my helmet back on as a safety precaution. "One never knows with these pirates." I mutter. When I get through to the opposite side I hear a clunk as the tunnel detaches from the ship. Looking up I notice a Bothan crew member with a uniform covered in various different colors, from what looked like different engine fluids, running to me.

"Sir, the captain wants you." he says as he stops to catch his breath.

"Where is he?"

"The bridge sir."

"And where is that exactly? I'm still new here." I reply as I shrug my shoulders.

"Oh, right, sorry sir. Follow me." stammers the crewman. Walking behind the crew man I take out the comm headset and Hud eyeglass in my helmet, put it back on, and open a channel to Archer. From her helmet feed I guessed that she was in a bathroom of some kind because it was at an angle on a tiled floor where he saw only a pair of booted feet that he knew were Archer's. When she noticed that her helmet had an open channel she removed the headset from it and switched off the helmet feed.

"What do you want? I'm kinda busy right now." Asks Archer in a mildly annoyed voice.

"Awww, did I interrupt something?" I say sarcastically

As we round a corner that leads to a stairwell I hear over my earpiece "You know, I may be a girl, but I have just as many guns, and knives as you do."

"Point taken, I'm gonna be on the bridge if you need me OK?"

"Where is that?"

"How should I know?"

"When you get there." Says Archer sarcastically. I can already imagine her smiling.

"But it could be in the center like some of those covie ships." The crew man turns and looks at me funny when he hears me talk about how the bridge being in the center of the ship.

"It's probably not in the center." I say

"Call me when you're done" Says Archer before closing the channel.

"Its right up here sir"

"Thank you, what's your name sailor?"

"Ursk sir. Ursk Kaakus"

"Alright thanks Ursk. I'm sure that you have other duties, I can find my way back."

"Aye sir." Said Ursk before turning and jogging away. Opening the door the first thing that I notice is how put together the bridge is despite the recent attacks. A few marines died trying to keep this the way it is. I think to myself. The bridge hands seemed to be relatively calm and were speaking into headsets and giving orders. The captain was sitting in his chair, hunched over, his left elbow on his knee while stroking the beginnings of a beard. The man looked to be in his late thirties but David knew the signs of a prematurely aged man and put him at his early thirties. His clothes were worn and fraying at the edges: David suspected that the captain was as well.

Stopping behind the captain's chair I stand at attention and say "1st Lieutenant David McCoy reporting as ordered sir."

The captain rises out of his chair and says "Oh, David right? Please relax, I'm not in charge of you."

I smile and say "Aye sir, but you still outrank me"

"I'm only captain of the ship, you are a guest for now."

"Well if you insist. How should I address you then?"

Captain will do for now David. Are you aware of where Ahsoka Tano is by any chance?"

"During the battle she was knocked unconscious and I thought that she'd have woken by now." The door opens behind me and a voice says "I have." Turning around I see a very annoyed looking Ahsoka.

"How you feeling?" I ask, trying to defuse the sour mood that she had on.

"OK, considering how I woke up inside a shipping container with an unconscious marine, and then, I find out that you led the Marines through the battle, captured an imperial cruiser, and then proceeded to make deals with pirates without consulting either me or the captain." Said Ahsoka. I could see the stormclouds brewing so I thought quickly about how I could stay as dry as possible in this conversation.

"In the absence of a chain of command, the highest ranking officer makes the decisions. The lieutenant in charge of the marines put me in charge because he recognized that I was a better leader right now; and as for the pirates, any other deal would have not gained us anything. We got the artillery so you should really be thanking me right now; from what I've heard, they're worth quite a lot." I raise my eyebrows and tilt my head forward while looking at her and waited for her response. Realising that she had lost the battle Ahsoka smiled, and shook her head.

She says "Man, you're worse than Anakin."

Confused I cock my head and ask "Who's Anakin?"

"An old friend of mine; he died at the end of the clone wars." Answered Ahsoka.

"Well, now let's get back to business. David, you've obviously proven your fighting skills if what the Marines have reported to me while you were busy with the turbolasers is true. Your Diplomacy sounds to be fair enough to make deals with pirates. My only problem is that you don't know how to read."

"Yeah I've been lead to believe that your written language is the same as mine, but the symbols are the only difference. Once I get down your alphabet, I'll be fine." I say while smiling sheepishly and scratching the back of my head. I feel like I'm at my first job interview right now.

Stroking his beard the captain says "That will be all David, please wait outside the door."

"Aye sir" I turn and walk out the door.

Inside the ship's Bridge

"So what do you think?" Asked Ahsoka

Rising from his chair The captain said "I know for a fact that he's been in the military. The thing is that his attitude towards me is more akin to those old clones. He has personality, so he's probably not imperial, but we won't be sending him out solo any time soon. Archer's the same way. I definitely know who would be great for him though."

"Are you seriously considering putting them back with the ghost crew; one of only a few cells that we have right now?" questioned Ahsoka.

"Of course I am. They're practically a family. If they're really what they say they are, no matter how far fetched their story is, They'll do great in learning about our galaxy." Said the captain with a smile starting to grow on his face. It had been a long time since he had felt like he was actually been able to help someone.

"But what if they're actually imperials?" Jabbed Ahsoka. This wouldn't be the first time that they had been betrayed to the empire by one of their own. If they were a security leak, then lives could be lost.

"Well then if they really are spies, then the Ghost crew should be pretty good at dealing with them themselves." Said the captain as the door opened.


	7. Chapter 7

When david passed Ahsoka and walked out of the bridge, he noticed that most of the people on the bridge were watching him. They really do think that I'm strange don't they? I say to myself mentally. Once I walk off the bridge, I head to my right a few paces and lean up against the bulkhead. I notice movement to my right. I turn my head and there appears to be a tail of sorts wagging around the corner. Suddenly the owner of the tail bounds around the corner and it looks like a two tone grey dog with something green in its mouth. It runs past me quickly and Nasser runs around the corner and yells "Catch that dog. He's got my little brothers ball!"

I join the chase and sprint after the dog. The dog goes down a hatch before running in a straight line towards the rear of the ship. I don't even bother with the stairs and jump feet first. My boots clang on the deck below me and I start running after the dog. A door opens to the right and the dog runs through quickly, startling the crewman who was walking through, but not as much as the 175 pounds of ODST running after the dog, or the smaller marine directly behind him. David runs into the crewman and both he and the young girl go down in a tangle of limbs. Nasser, still trying to catch the dog, steps on david's back as he keeps running. Eventually David untangles himself from the crewman and starts running again. The dog and Nasser had run into the mess hall. Some of the people who were eating their lunch had helped back the dog into a corner when David got there. When a big Togruta male dives at the dog, it sidesteps and runs through the new gap in the line. Soon David, Nasser and some other crewmen were chasing after the dog until it got into the main hangar. When it got there, the deck hands immediately dropped what they were doing once they saw how many people were chasing the dog. Soon there were too many people for the dog to out run and a ring was formed around it. The dog was soon running in circles inside the ring to try and find a way out. David and Nasser stepped into the ring and the gap was closed too soon for the dog to run through.

"I'll go low, if I don't catch him you grab him, got it?" Said David, out of breath.

"Got it." Replied an equally tired Nasser.

"Hey wait for me!" Yelled a voice

Taking a quick glance around his shoulder, David saw Archer running towards the group and joining David and Nasser inside the circle.

"What's the plan? Asked Archer

"I'm going low, you two catch him if I don't get him." Said David as he began to advance on the dog.

David then dived at the dog, reaching for its neck with one hand and a leg with his other. The dog saw this coming and jumped a foot in the air before landing on David's back where he saw the form of Nasser diving on top. He only just avoided being tackled, but Nasser still got a hold of one of its back legs giving Archer enough time to scoop up the dog in her arms.

"I got him" said Archer and soon the ring broke out into cheering. Nasser rose from on top of David's prone body and took the bright green ball from out of the dog's mouth and tucked it into one of his pockets. Rising David went up to Archer and petted the dog who was panting heavily, enjoying the attention that it was getting from the figures.

"Hey, whose dog is this?" Asked David

"That's the captain's dog sir. I'm sure that he'd want lil Maggie back with him." Said a crew member.

"I bet he does. Who wouldn't want such a cute little furball." Said Archer with such a little girlish voice that David looked at her with a "Who are you, and what have you done with my friend?" expression on. Archer just smiled back at him.

"Alright, I'm sure that you've all got other duties to attend to, break it up." Said an older crewman. After everyone petted the dog just one more time, the crowd broke up. They all had a smile on their face as they did so.

Cradling the dog in her arms, Archer, David, and Nasser walked back to the bridge without incident. When they got there the Captain and Ahsoka had just finished a conversation.

"I think we found your dog captain" said Nasser as he closed the door and Archer let Maggie down to the floor where she promptly ran and jumped up into the captain's lap.

"Alright, what did she steal this time?" Asked the captain as he rolled his eyes to heaven.

"He stole my little bro's ball this time cap." Said Nasser

"Oh, why am I not surprised" Asked the captain rhetorically, as he proceeded to scratch behind Maggie's ears. "I take it that it probably took half the crew to catch her, didn't it?"

"Nah, captain. It only took about twenty of us" said David.

"Well, while you three were busy with the dog, me and Ahsoka were discussing what to do with you three. David and Archer, we've decided to send you back to the Ghost. You've proven your loyalty to us for now. Don't think that you're quite off the hook here, but we believe that you can benefit us. I'm sorry but we still need David and Archer to redo the docking procedure in about 13 hours for your shipping container. I'm also sorry to say that we don't have a spare bunk for you because of the recent attack. All of the beds are being used. We also have you two to thank for bringing in the prisoners, and saving the lives of everyone aboard. We didn't lose any lives today which makes me eternally grateful. Nasser, your help to our cause has also allowed me to grant your brother a permanent bunk aboard ship with you.

"Thank you sir" said Nasser slumping as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Now, the engines have another hour or two before they're repaired. After that, we're outta here. So Archer, David; Hera told me about your sleeping arrangements. Would you mind if you did something similar until we arrive?"

"Not at all, as long as there is a place to hang our hammocks." Replied Archer "We're both kind of tired from earlier so if you don't mind, we'd like to set them up soon."

"Of course, of course. Nasser, put these two up in between some of the containers." Said the captain.

"Aye sir" said Nasser before heading out the door with David, and Archer.

13 hours Later

The Ghost comes out of hyperspace.

"This is the Ghost contacting the Lusitania, requesting permission to dock over?"Asked Hera over the radio.

"Affirmative Ghost, Permission granted. Although I should warn you that you're probably gonna have to send some people over to grab the two lieutenants."

"Why, are they hurt?" Asked Hera.

"No, whenever I call down to the mess hall, I hear a lot of drunk singing. I've never heard most of those songs so I'm betting that both of the lieutenants have gone through a few bottles by now. My guess is that the marines wanted to thank them for what happened earlier today."

"Did it have anything to do with those Blast marks that I see towards the stern on the port side?" Said Hera

"Yeahhhh, he kinda saved the whole ship sooo"

"Say no more, I'll send over the kids and Zeb."

"I think that you should come to keep those three out of trouble as well. We were carrying a good sized shipment of wine."

"Alright, I hope that they can sing at least." Said Hera as she completed the dock on the starboard side hatch."

Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and Kanan were walking down a corridor leading to the mess hall accompanied by one of the watch officers. As they neared the mess hall they heard David start singing "Well what do we do with the drunken sailor, what do we do with the drunken sailor, what will we do with the drunken Sailor early in the morning. Way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises early in the morning!" Ezra and sabine enter the mess hall first to see David and Archer sitting on top of a table surrounded by other sailors and Marines. There were empty bottles everywhere.

Holding a mostly full bottle Archer starts singing "Shave his belly with a rusty razor, Shave his belly with a rusty razor, Shave his belly with a rusty razor, early in the morning!"

The crew joins in for the chorus singing "Way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises early in the morning!"

Taking a quick swig from his Canteen cup David sings "Put him in a longboat till, he's sober, put him in a longboat till he's sober, Put him in a longboat till he's sober, Early in the morning!"

By now every person in the mess hall had joined in on the chorus except for Kanan and the watch officer who quietly left the mess hall to return to his duty station. David and Archer joined in for the next verse singing "Put him in the barrel with a hosepipe on him, put him in the barrel with the hosepipe on him, put him in the barrel with the hosepipe on him, early in the morning!"

Joining in to the chorus Kanan helped sing "Way hay, and up she rises, way hay and up she rises, way hay and up she rises early in the morning!"

Then when the chorus ended David and Archer sang "That's what we do with a drunken sailor, that's what we do with a drunken sailor, that's what we do with a drunken sailor early in the morning!" There was one last chorus before the song finally ended with a loud roar of applause. Seizing the opening before another song began the members of the ghost crew walked up to David and Archer to tell them to come to the ghost with them. Ezra was the first to fight his way through the crowd. Archer noticed him first and leaned down to ask Ezra with a smile on her face and her auburn hair starting to fall around her face. "What's up kid? You here to take us back?"

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt your little party here but you gotta go." Said Ezra. Nodding her head Archer nudges David then says something into his ear. Nodding he stands up and the crowd quiets down.

"Well we'd love to thank you for the good time and the drinks but our ship has arrived and we need to be going. We've got a shipping container to move so if any of you exo-atmo guys could help out, that would be great. Thanks for having us." Announced David before the room descended into varying stages of sighing and chaos. David and Archer eventually made it through the crowd after much handshaking and saluting. With the help of the technicians aboard the ship and Sabine who was now well rested, the cargo container was transferred back to the ghost without incident. The two ODSTs made one last trip to the Lusitania to pick up their weapons inside the armory before going back to the Ghost. After some last good byes the Ghost disengaged from the ship and made the jump to hyperspace.


	8. Chapter 8

"Hey David, wake up. It's time for breakfast." Said Ezra as he tried to Rock David's hammock with a pole. He didn't know if David would be as bad in the mornings as Zeb.

"Go away kid, need my sleep" came a tired voice out of the old green hammock strung up in the cargo bay.

"Come on man. I made breakfast this time. You should at least try to get up." Said Ezra

"Go away" growled David

"Alright" Said Ezra defeated. As he walked away he remembered the one thing that everyone in the universe drinks. "By the Way, if you don't hurry Zeb will drink all of the caf before you get up. Hera also makes some of the best in the outer rim." He heard the hammock rustle before he saw David crawling out of his Hammock.

Sabine had managed to get Archer out of bed earlier and they were both sitting around the table with Kanan, Hera, and Ezra. There was a large pot of steaming caf at the table. Taking a seat at the table David took Archers canteen off of her belt and removed the cup attached to the bottom. Archer didn't even bother to fuss over it considering that they've shared just about everything since they've been together. Replacing the canteen in the correct pouch David filled the cup almost to the brim with hot and steaming Caf.

"Don't you think that that's a bit too much for a human" asked Sabine, noticing how much coffee was in the cup. Hera liked to brew her Caf real strong.

"Sabine, there is no such thing as too much coffee to me. I mean caf, sorry, still getting used to this." Said David as he warmed his hands on the metal cup.

"So, what are we doing today?" asked Archer

"Well we need to make another supply run on Lothal. Mostly food so we only need to go to a settlement with a market." Replied Hera

"Well how about Lothan? Everything we need is there, including info on our next target if we're lucky." Said Kanan.

"Well then, to Lothan it is. Chopper!" Said Hera. The old C-110P droid heard Hera and answered with a "wonk, wonk, wonk"

"Set a course for Lothan" Said Hera

"Man this stuff is strong" said David as he drained the last bit of caf from the cup

"Alright, I need to get moving soon" said David in the driver's seat of their jeep.

"We warned you" said Sabine who was riding in the now empty back with Ezra, Kanan, and Zeb.

"Yeah but I had just figured out how this stuff works like five days ago. How am I supposed to know how strong Hera makes her caf?" Asked David incredulously.

"Just don't get into a fight that you can't win okay. What you should do is just get us to town in one piece." Said Archer as the edge of the town came into view on the horizon.

"Why do you always wonder if I'm gonna get us there in one piece or not?" Asked David.

"Because you drive like a maniac" Replied Archer.

"Fair point."

"David, Archer, how long have you two known each other again?" Asked Kanan

"About ten years now" Replied Archer.

"Well that explains a lot." Muttered Zeb. They were just beginning to enter Lothan now and David had slowed down. As they came into the town square they noticed a stage being erected by imperials. Pulling over to park by some speeders the crew got out. There was a sign posted on the wall in front of them with an imperial logo.

"An execution?" Said Ezra surprised.

"Who's scheduled for execution" asked David

"A Mandalorian by the name of Li Spag. He is accused of assisting rebels, smugglers, and convicted criminals of the empire, assault of imperial stormtroopers and an officer." Replied Kanan.

"He sound like a fun dude." Said David

"And one Human by the name of Kuwahara Souichirou **."**

"What makes you so certain it's a dude" asked Archer as she was hopping out of the jeep

"Uhhh, Archer we've had this discussion five times already" complained david as he also hopped out of the jeep.

"Six actually" Poked Archer.

"Li Spag's a she by the way" Said Sabine as she walked towards the sidewalk.

"Boom, in your face" Said Archer.

"Does it matter? Ive met some girls who legitimately terrify me, but I've also met some guys who do the same, so gender does not matter to me." Said David defensively

"What does matter though, is that there is a Mando scheduled for execution" said Ezra as he took a discreet glance to see where Sabine was looking.

Zeb turns to the group and says "Well it's not like we can do anything about it now. It's not scheduled till sundown."

"We can get our supplies now, then we can come back later to, you know, watch the empire, make an example of someone" Said David while putting air quotes into the last part. The group then each gets a data pad with a list of things that they need to get and then split up: with Sabine and Archer going off to get parts for explosives; Kanan and Zeb going off for ship parts; and David and Ezra going to the market for foods. They agreed to be back there by noon.

David was walking down the main street with a large rucksack on and his notebook close to his face. The sun was just rising and shining into his face so his boonie cap was pulled low to shield his eyes. Some of the stands were just beginning to open.

"So what exactly are Jogan fruit?" asked David

"Jogans are one of the easier things to find here. We should get those last; the stalls sell out quickly here." replied Ezra

"Well we've got to get: a crate of jogans, three kilos of nerf, two large bags of caf, and you said that we're getting some more nutri-bars right?" Listed David

"Yeah, and we've got 200 credits to get them so you've gotta be careful."

"I've gotta be careful?" asked David insulted.

"Yeah, I know how to not spend money" replied Ezra tauntingly

(3 hours later)

"I spent too much money" said Ezra with his backpack full of various items

"Look who knows how to not spend money now" said David with an equally full rucksack.

Ezra was in the process of coming up with a retort when david put a finger to his mouth.

Pushing down David's hand Ezra "whispered what is it?" as he reached for his blaster/lightsaber. Several humans in matching green uniforms were down by a stall jabbering to each other in some language that Ezra didn't understand. When one of the humans exclaimed "Keysor" David instantly began walking over to them. Not wanting to be by himself Ezra jogged up to David's side and asked "Do you know em?"

"No but I think that we share a language" When David reached them the group stopped talking and looked David up and down

David the paused before saying "Anata wa nihongo o hanasemasu ka?"

All of the people in green were startled by this question that David asked. A man in his mid thirties with brown hair, brown eyes. And a few hairs on his chin then asked "Dono yō ni nihongo o hanashimasu"

David then sighed and replied "Anime ya dōninshi"

"Dōninshi!" exclaimed another young man with black hair, black eyes, and a cat smile in the group.

"Ara Iyada Kurata" growls the shortest member of the group, a young muscular looking female.

The first man than asks " Shusshin wa dochira desu ka"

David then says "Garuda, anata mo? Anata wa Basic matawa english?"

"Hay, We learned Basic after we got here. By the way I'm 1st lieutenant Itami Youji, commanding officer of Recon 3." replied the man.

When David heard Itami speak he turned as white as snow.

"Is everything alright?" asked Itami

"Y-You're the heroes of Ginza?" Stuttered David

"Eh?" asked the young and muscular female.

"If that's true then you're Sgt. Kurata Takeo" Said David as he pointed to the man who perked up when he hear doujinshi being mentioned.

Kurata reacted instantly with "How did you know my first name?!"

"If all of you are part of the Recon 3 that I know, you are some of Japan's most famous warriors ever, until you disappeared at the end of the Korean war in 2018."

"Oh, yeah who won the war then?" asked a female with black hair, blue eyes, and a soft expression on her face.

"The UN did, PLA and the NKPA didn't last long after they failed in Japan. But biologically, you should be dead right now."

"What?!" Replied the muscular girl

"Sfc. Kurabayashi Shino right, I came from the year 2601." The squad members all became very silent at this.

"So you mean to tell me…" paused probably the largest man in the group. "That we're nearly 600 years old?"

"Yes Sfc. Tomita, you have been declared Missing in Action for 583 yrs. . All of you have been declared Heroes of Japan by the Diet and is remembered by most people who study military history in any way and nearly every japanese citizen. You were all promoted after you were declared missing in action."

"So who are you then?" Asked the now 1st lieutenant Itami.

"1st lieutenant David McCoy of the UNSC Marine Corps. I just ended up in this galaxy about a week ago. How long have you guys been here?"

"About a year now, which brings us to why we're here, have you heard of a man by the name of Kuwahara Souichirou **.** " questioned Itami

"You must have trouble with the Empire then; he's scheduled to be publicly executed today at sunset." Said Ezra

The whole squad stood up and was as keyed up as piano strings. Looking up and down the street David then thumbed towards an alley. Nodding, Itami led his squad into the alley.

"Alright, we're here to disrupt the execution once we get our supplies. Do you still have all of your gear with you?" Said David in Japanese.

"Hay, it's in our trucks back a few blocks." Replied Itami in Japanese.

"If you want, we can work together to get those people out of this situation." Offered David.

"How do we know that we can trust you."

I can tell you that you, Itami were in Special forces as well as Rangers. You were well known for being an Otaku, You worked to support your hobby, and placed your hobby over your job." Said David

Kurabayashi's jaw practically dropped to the floor at this and Itami gave a start of surprise.

"Well, they all knew that I was a ranger, but I never said anything about special forces. So your story checks out." Said Itami. Kurabayashi now had her head in her hands and was making light sobbing sounds.

"Alright, are you in charge?" Asked Itami

"No, but if you come with me, we can have you meet my current bosses" replied David.

"When and where should we meet? Asked Itami

"I think the best way to do this should be for us to buy our supplies together, and then walk over to our jeeps. I can guide you to where we're parked, that sound good to you? "

"Hay"

Kanan, Zeb, Sabine, and Archer were waiting by the warthog which they had filled a little with various supplies a little before noon.

"David and Ezra said that they'd be here soon,I wonder what's taking them?" Asked Sabine

"Probably had some trouble carrying all of the food. The list was a little long." Said Kanan

In the distance they hear a low rumbling.

Archer hears it and perks up, trying to figure out what it was. It sounded familiar to her but she couldn't place the sound in her brain. Her boonie cap was pinned up in the front with a lieutenant's bar to allow her to see better. The rumbling was coming around a corner until Archer recognized the sound of a diesel engine. The owner of the voice rounded the corner in the form of two green Humvees and a japanese LAV. The whole group gave a start when they saw David in the passenger seat next to an asian man wearing an ancient uniform pattern that was in great condition. Archer didn't even know how to react when she saw the Japanese flag on the driver's shoulder. One of the humvees parked right next to The warthog and David got out of the passenger side while the back door opened and Lieutenant Itami, others took up position a few feet away When Archer saw the name tape on the Lieutenants breast she turned as white as David had earlier. David was standing next to Kanan as Itami approached and reached out his hand to shake with Kanan.

David introduced them with "Lieutenant Itami Youjji, Meet Spectre one, Spectre one, Meet 1st lieutenant Itami Youjji, one of the most famous warriors of our history." Kanan shook his hand and stood up a little straight.

"So I hear that you're in charge here?" Asked Itami in perfect Basic.

Kanan then replied "Sort of, What can I do for you?" Replied the now slightly confused rebel.

"First I would like to help you help us tonight." Said Itami as he nodded towards the mostly complete stage.

"Then let's go somewhere more private." Said Kanan Then he turned to david with a questioning look.

Shrugging his shoulders "Don't ask me how, I just saw em in the market. We got all the supplies that you wanted in the back." Archer was now eagerly shaking hands with Itami and saying how amazing it was to meet him. Then David and Itami got back in the Humvee and then they all drove off towards the Ghost.

"Do you mind explaining to me why there are now four green vehicles instead of the original one?" Asked Hera with an accusing look on her face to Kanan.

"Don't Blame me, apparently David knew these people from where he lived before or something."

Said ODST was currently helping the others offload the supplies into the Ghost.

"Well what are they here for?"

"Their friend is on the execution list tonight."

"Well can they fight, or take orders?"

"They were in the Japanese Self-Defense force. I think that you don't have to worry much" Yelled David over to the two rebels.

A short female yelled something at David in her language and when David Replied she gave Kanan and Hera a look that did not bode well if they made her any more mad than now. When they were done loading the supplies David called everyone over and introduced the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force soldiers to the Ghost crew: 1st lieutenant Itami Youjji, Sfc. Kurata Takeo, MSgt. Kurabayashi Shino, Msgt. Tomita Akira, and Msgt. Kurokawa Mari.

"Well the main reason they've agreed to help us is to get their buddy CSM Kuwahara Souichirou back. The problem is that he's been detained by the imps for some reason. They'll help us get everyone out and make our job easier. We've got about five hours to set up so I've already come up with a plan." said David as he put down a holographic map of the area. Pointing to the buildings surrounding the square David said "Itami, Kurata, Tomita, Ezra and Sabine will provide overwatch. When the first man is about to be executed or they've lined up all whos gonna be executed toss down smoke grenades and take out anyone on the stand and immediate area. Kurabayashi, Archer, Myself, and Kanan will be down on the deck grabbing Kuwahara, and Spagg. When were out of there the Imperial Quick Reaction Force will be on us like white on rice so we'll have to be hauling before they get here. When we grab the two well hand them off to Itami's men over by his jeep here." as he pointed to an alley a few meters from the square. "Then you guys will head straight to the east side of town where Hra and the ghost will be waiting. The rest of us will separate into groups and get out of town. Have a means of communicating and be with someone at all times, no groups smaller than two people." When Itami understood the plan he assigned Kurata, Tomita, and Kurokawa to be providing overwatch on the left side. Itami and the rest would be on the right hand side. When the plan was finished Everyone went about their own personal preparations for battle. An hour later they were all kitted out and ready to fight. In the escape LAV Kuwahara's gear was stored for when he returned. Hera took off and the rest of the rebels drove back to town, grim faced.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Itami, Do you have any Dojinshi that you'd be willing to trade?" Asked David over the radio in japanese

"Well that depends on what you'd be willing to trade?" Came Itami's reply

"Hey, have you got any copies of Nemecku?" Asked Kurata

"Can you guys please not talk about this? I'm trying to get my crap together here" Complained Kurabayashi.

"Kurabayashi you can get your drinks whenever, we haven't met anyone with doujinshi in a long time though."

"It's just Doujinshi"

Soon Kurabayashi had the combined fury of three otakus bearing down on her over the radio. Ezra, Kanan, Zeb, and Sabine were all looking at each other with confused looks on their faces as they tried to understand the gibberish that they were hearing over the radio In the back of the LAV.

"Does anyone even remotely recognize this language?" asked Ezra

"Not a clue, but I think that right now they're just insulting one person." said Sabine

"Well they don't sound so happy right now" Said Kanan as Kurabayashi began to retort with equal ferocity over the radio.

"What do you think that they're arguing about" asked Ezra

"They're arguing about a stupid little thing called doujinshi. Kurabayashi hates dealing with people called Otakus. They're people who don't really do much besides sit at home and read manga. The only other things that they do are typically to survive and support their hobbies. It would appear that now having to deal with three of them she is marking her territory or something." Said Tomita from the driver's seat of the LAV

"Marking her territory?" Asked Kanan

"I don't know I don't listen to this." Replied Tomita

"Well how long do you think they're gonna be bickering? Its starting to drive me insane" complained Zeb

"Until Kurabayashi wins the argument or those three give up. Kurabayashi has the most dominant mindset that i've ever seen. She refuses to back down when her standing is threatened if she can help it." The radio seemed to dominated more by Kurabayashi's voice as she gained ground in the verbal battle. The jeeps were beginning to enter town when the three otakus started to begin repeating something that sounded like they we're saying they're sorry to Kurabayashi. A few blocks from the town square they pulled the LAV over and parked it, leaving Tomita in the driver seat and Kuwara in the gunner position with the M2 heavy machine gun.

When the small convoy stopped Kurabayashi hopped out and individually yelled at each of the Otakus before they even got out of their vehicles.

Archer seemed to be giggling underneath her armour until David slugged her in the shoulder, then she started to openly laugh at the misfortune of the poor ODST who incurred Kurabayashi's wrath when she got to him.

Inside of the Jeeps everyone checked to make sure that they all had all of their individual gear. Kurabayashi packed her extra bayonets and checked to make sure that they were still sharp. Satisfied she hid them in various spots on her vest where she could reach them easily. David went through his mental shakedown of preparing to deal with the battle that would begin in a little under an hour. Archer put her headphones in under her helmet and put on Whitney Duncan's _So Sorry Mama._ Tomita prayed to god, Kurata was just jabbering away at anyone who would listen, Itami read Doujinshi, Kanan meditated, Zeb took a quick catnap, and Ezra tried to hit on Sabine a little.

When a small crowd began to gather at the viewing stand David, Kurabayashi, Kanan, Itami, and Archer drove off to another alley to be separated from the group when they split up. Kurata took his jeep over to another alley. When they arrived at the place where they would hide David's jeep, they covered it with a tarp and stacked some garbage bins to make it look like just a slag heap. Then David's group did a radio check with the group with the grabbing group having the callsign of Recon , The Ghost having a callsign of Dustoff, Tomita's LAV being War Pig, Kurata's group being called Otaku.

"Recon 1 in position" said David from within the growing crowd. Kurabayashi, Kanan, Archer and Itami were scattered throughout the crowd. They all had concealed their rifles as best as they could either by hiding them in their backpacks or by breaking them into pieces. Their pistols and armor didn't draw much attention out here in the relatively untamed town. Eventually a large crowd going. Kurata was up on a roof looking down onto the grand stand.

"Anybody find it weird how few soldiers there are. I feel like there aren't quite enough out here, unless they're bringing a lot of reinforcements when they bring the turkey and the fish." cautioned David.

"I agree, Otaku do a visual sweep of the area" whispered Itami into his radio.

"I'm not seeing much imperial activity so-wait, I think I saw a flash of white on the roof behind the viewing stand."

"Well it looks like they might have more than we expected. Otaku, be sure to eliminate any people along the rooftops or other places when dinner begins." calmly ordered Itami

"Youkai"

"Otaku 3 here, an APC is arriving to drop off the two prisoners" whispered Sabine

"Affirmative" the crowd by now had grown to be quite large so the Recon team could now assemble their rifles without too much commotion.

"APC is two minutes out"

"Recon , remove your helmets, then advance until there are only a few people between you and the stand" ordered Itami. The squad did as they were ordered and were spread out in the third or fourth row of the crowd within a minute. By the time the APC arrived Everyone was set to start dinner.

"Otaku 1 here, turkey and fish have arrived." Radioed in Kurata

"Wait until they're both on the stand to begin. Everyone, assemble your gear and weapons. Dinner is about to be served.

"Keysor, they got roughed up" came Kurata's voice shortly before they were standing on the stage. Both Li Spagg, and Msgt. Kuwahara both had been roughed up a little. Kuwahara still had his uniform on albeit, it was torn a little and bloody from his broken nose. Li spagg had her undersuit on but they could see the plates and helmet back in the APC which had parked behind the stand. Escorting the two soldiers was two stormtroopers and a somewhat senior officer. David guessed that he was either a captain or a new major by his age and by how he carried himself.. Attached to his left leg was a holster containing a blaster pistol.

"Man, that Chick is hot" Said Kurata

Stay focused Kurata" said Ezra

"But can you Deny it?"

Li Spagg was in fact quite attractive to most humans. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a ponytail, she was of average height and build. She had a light scrape on her face and a bloody nose currently. She carried herself tall and proud in the light of the execution, not wanting to show any weakness. Kuwahara was actually smiling, acting as if this was no big deal and he was gonna go see his grandchildren after this was over. As he looked through the crowd he saw Itami and nodded towards the officer with an expression of humor.

"This guy must be an overpromoted dweeb. Kuwahara seems to think so." Said David into his radio.

"Kurata, when the officer makes his speech eliminate the overwatch then provide cover for us." Ordered Itami

"Youkai."

The officer walked to the front of the stage and the crowd fell silent. Before he opened his mouth however, two shots rang out and the officer had a small hole in his chest with a red mark that was spreading away from it. The man toppled from the stand and then chaos reigned supreme. Kurabayashi and David charged the stage David had his sword drawn and Kuribayashi had her bayonet affixed to the end of her rifle. The Stormtroopers never stood a chance and were quickly killed. David grabbed Li Spagg and Kuribayashi got her master sergeant. They were quickly running through the crowd as fast as they could to where Tomita had pulled up the LAV, with Kuwara holding a Panzerfaust. Itami had run back to the APC to grab the Mandalorian's armor. When he had it, he sprinted as fast as he could towards the LAV. As Li , and Kuwahara were getting into the LAV, Kanan simply shoved them inside, banged on the door and told the rest of the groups to scatter immediately.

"What's wrong Spectre 1?" asked Ezra

"We've got TIE fighters incoming. I didn't expect such a quick reaction."

"Dustoff, be advised that we have TIE fighters incoming, do you have their ETA"

"What?" Asked Hera confused.

"When are they getting here?!"Yelled David

"You have about two minutes, I'm gonna be hard pressed to get War Pig out, and I'm also detecting transport aircraft inbound in about five minutes." Said Hera into the radio as she dived towards the ground from her original position in low orbit. Soon she could see the LAV driving towards the pre-determined meeting area with The TIE fighters were about 100 km away and closing fast. The Ghost quickly landed with its ramp lowered. Barely slowing down Tomita drove up the ramp and parked inside the Hangar. Hera quickly took off and exited the atmosphere before the Empire Identified it.

Back on the ground the situation was getting bad. The Humvee that Itami, and the rest of the team had rode in had broken down and wouldnt start.

"Keysor, work!" Yelled Itami as he turned the ignition switch again and again.

"Were gonna have to abandon it for now. Get everything of use out and lock it up. We're gonna hide it till it can be recovered." Ordered David. The Otaku group had already evacuated and were driving away and would be out of radio range soon. When they had all gathered What they could they each had a rucksack full of food, ammo, water, and other various necessary clothing. They all jogged out into the street and tried to be as nonchalant as possible when some stormtroopers rounded the corner. The stormtroopers didn't even challenge the group before they opened fire at the group walking on the sidewalk. The group dove for whatever cover there was. David Felt something strike him in his chest as he dove behind a fruit stand with Kurabayashi and assessed the situation. The Stormtroopers had taken cover around the corner again Kurabayashi was right next to David behind the stand and Was sticking her bayonet back onto her rifle. She turned to look at David and saw his chest and yelled "David, you're hit!" in to look at her and then his chest David stopped and then laughed hysterically.

"That's not funny." Said Itami who was behind the stand on the opposite side of the road.

"Yeah, It's friggin hilarious!" yelled David as he stuck his hand under his chest plate to check the damage. The blaster bolt had melted about a centimeter of his armor that was designed to stop Plasma from getting through. He was unharmed.

"You almost Died there, are you insane?" asked Kurabayashi

David still smiling and panting replied "Yeah!" Before leaning out and taking a shot that hit a storm trooper center of mass just as he had trained and fought since he was 16.

"Itami, I need you to suppress them, we're gonna charge em when their heads are down said David as he pulled out his sword and SMG on his hip, while slinging his rifle. Itami put down his bipod on his rifle, switched the selector on his rifle from Semi-, to Atare (Automatic, Literally hit the target). He then rolled out to where he could fire his rifle at the stormtroopers as David and Kurabayashi they were too close to the corner for Itami to safely shoot, David took out a flashbang, pulled the pin. He had delayed the time between his tossing it and when the pin was pulled so that the troopers had less time to react. When he heard the loud bang, David and Kuribayashi charged and killed the five stormtroopers that they saw. They saw an APC down the road charging and immediately started sprinting back to their squad mates and yelled at them to run as the APC started to round the corner. Panicking the group gave chase but they had a hard time keeping up with David and Itami. What no one except archer knew was that in PT gear, David could run a five and a half minute mile. They ran down a Dark alley and stayed in the tight roads where only the Stormtroopers could go until they reached a large abandoned home.


	10. Chapter 10: Meet Ishmael

"How bad is it Dustoff?" Came David's voice over the radio.

"Really bad Recon 3, you've got swarming everywhere. You're hidden for now, but they'll find you soon." Replied Hera from the ghost currently in orbit over Lothal.

"Ghost, put Otaku on the horn"

"I'm here, I'm here Recon 3. What do you need." came Kurata's worried voice over the radio.

David asks in Japanese "Where is the least opposition to us." There was silence over the comms channel as Kurata consulted a holo map to get an accurate guess.

"It's to the west of you, but you've still got close to 200 in between you and the outside of town which is the only place that we can land. Enemy forces are still pouring in." Came Kuratas reply over the radio in Japanese.

"Alright, tell Hera to be ready for a hot pickup on the west side of town when we radio you. Gatagato."

The room that David, Archer, Kurabayashi, Kanan, and Itami were in was a living room in a large abandoned house in the center of Lothan. Kurabayashi and Kanan were watching out through the two windows in the room, while David, Archer, and Itami were gathered around a map on the floor in the center of the room. Looking up from the map to Itami and Archer David explains their situation.

"Keysor, it'd take more than a minor miracle to get through all that." Sighed Itami as he tapped his helmeted head onto his type 64 rifle. David and Archer both lock eyes as David puts his hand onto Archer's shoulder and squeezes lightly. He whispers to her "I have to use it"

"Please don't" came Archer's soft spoken reply.

"I have no better option. I won't let you guys die."

"But what if you don't come back? I watched those recordings, it took you hours to recover from the ones that they taped."

"He needs this body too. If he doesn't let me back in when this is all over, shoot me. I will be as good as dead if I can't get back in control."

Itami looked up at this order, a worried expression on his face. Archer noded her head and David reached into his first aid kit attached to his belt. He removed a clear plastic vial with a light tan liquid inside. Remembering that his canteen was empty David asked Itami, stuttering for his. Itami obliged David's request.

"Itami, Kurabayashi, Kanan, I'm gonna be dancing on the Devil's Dance floor soon. If I attack you, do as Archer says" Ordered David. The group each acknowledged David albeit in a confused manner. Opening the canteen, David pours some water into his canteen cup and then dumps the contents of the vial into the cup. He then swirls it around with his finger until the water had turned a similar shade of tan as the mixture. When the mixture was complete David began to visibly tremble. As he tried to remove his helmet from his head, his fingers were fumbling about. He eventually removed it and everyone could see that he was trembling so much that he could barely keep hold of his helmet. Itami asks "What's wrong" in a very concerned voice. Archer can't even look David in the eye for fear of making him have a harder time of drinking the liquid.

"I'm Afraid" Said David. "But I can't let anyone else die because I'm not brave enough to do what's necessary to help them." David then grabbed the cup and quickly drained the contents of the cup down his throat. He lowered the cup, then his eyes began to change from the soft and happy green to a shade of violet. Archer stood and backed up just before David suddenly, and violently, stood up and grabbed the sides of his head, dropping the cup to the floor. He was clenching his teeth in pain and his sudden movement startled everyone in the room. As the sea of torment traveled throughout his body he reeled in different directions until he finally turned away from the group and fell to his knees. Tears were streaming down his face as waves upon waves of unimaginable pain flew threw him. Itami tried to walk over to him to help but Archer blocked his path with an outstretched hand. She turned to him and said "you can't help him. It has to run it's course."

Then when David seemed to reach a fever pitch of the pain he let out a deafening roar. In the confined space of the living room many of the soldiers had to cover their ears for no normal human could ever generate such a sound. When David's body was done only Archer was left standing because her helmets audio dampeners had blocked out the sound. When Itami regained his hearing and looked back at David's body they noticed that it was still and slumped over. Then David's body seems to wake and examines his hands. Then he began to laugh. When she heard the laughter Archer raised her weapon and walked over to David who promptly stood up and gave a slasher smile. Then a voice that wasn't David's said "Oh, it's good to be back" The voice came from David's body but It seemed to be different in a way. His very slight accent was changed to a perfect and almost political voice.

"Ishmael right?" Asked Archer from underneath her polarized mask.

"Yes Red, I know what you need. I'll be good, but don't you dare get in my way. It's been three years so I'm gonna do as I wish until it's time for David to be in charge again Red."

"Alright, get us out of here." Ordered Archer


	11. Chapter 11: Darkness and Light

**A/N**

 **Sorry I took so long with this one guys. I wanted to experiment with writing out a longer chapter to see how it went. This one is over 4000 words which is a personal record for me. If you could, please let me know how I did. Now, enjoy the work that I have put out for all of your entertainment. Please Review.**

QT-6894 was a stormtrooper. He had served the empire all eight years of his life. Like most stormtroopers he was a clone. Never in all his life had he been more afraid than he was now. He and his squad had been clearing the roads where the APCs couldn't drive in the center of town on the west side in search of the rebels. He was walking down an alley when he suddenly heard a great roar of pain that seemed to echo forever. Immediately after the roars echo died away there seemed to be nothing but silence. His Sergeant, a veteran of the clone wars, ordered his squad to keep patrolling through the area. They came across a large abandoned estate that had a high wall and a courtyard. QT was in the middle of the group as he entered the courtyard. When the whole squad was in the courtyard a small tubular object fell from one of the windows into the middle of the group. Without thinking, QT closed his eyes. There was a loud bang and QT couldn't hear anything. When he opened his eyes he saw a blur of black with some specks of aqua moving through his squad. This strange blur moved faster than any normal human could. He raised his rifle and tried to blast him repeatedly but was unable to hit him. Eventually he nicked the blur's leg, but it took it and kept was the last one standing and the blur turned its attention to QT. Now QT saw that it was an armored human holding an orange stick that glowed. He had seen the human put the stick into his comrades and tried to blast him. Before he knew it his rifle was pushed away as he fired and his helmet was off. The human Depolarized his helmet to show the clone that he was smiling. QT felt something Poke his chest and a wet feeling spread from there. He looked down to see the orange rod protruding from his chest into the human's hand. His vision began to get fuzzy and QT looked back into the bright violet eyes of this strange man who had an orange stick going into his hand. QT lost his balance and fell to the ground. He now saw that the stick was in fact coming from the man and not the other way around. He still didn't understand why he was having trouble focusing, or why the man was smiling. Soon all he saw was the Purple of the man's eyes, and then nothing.

(IMS Enforcer bridge)

"Agent Kallus, D squad has failed to report in" said a radio operator

"Where were they when they last reported in" asked ISB agent Kallus, the man in charge of hunting down the rebels around Lothal.

"Near the center of town sir" replied the Radio tech.

"Sir, patrol 52 has reported taking fire. The lines dead now. I think that they're heading west." said another technician.

"Deploy another APC to the west side. Send a walker as well." ordered Agent Kallus

"APC 3 calling in, we're being attacked, western district, my vehicle is disabled and my infantry are being wiped out!" came a voice over another radio frequency. As the radio operator was about to relay this information to Agent Kallus he heard a loud bang, and then static.

"Sir APC 3 is destroyed"

"What! Send all available troops to the west district immediately."

"Agent Kallus, a ship is flying into the area." reported the radar technician.

"Fire at the ship if it comes anywhere close to the fighting. Otherwise leave it alone we need to focus on the rebels." Ordered Kallus

"Aye sir"

"Sir, reports of fighting at the edge of the city. They're about five blocks from the edge."

"Unidentified ship has entered the fighting area, commencing intercept." said the Air Traffic Controller as he directed two TIE fighters to intercept.

"The walker is destroyed sir." reported a radio tech

"Kriff, what is going on down there?"

"Patching you through to squad in action currently" said the radio operator

"Fire don't hold back. I don't care what kind of demon he is, kill it." ordered a stormtrooper

"Kriff he's immortal, I just got him gahhh-" screamed another

"Retreat, Retrea-ahhhh"

"Sir the TIE fighters are destroyed and the ship is currently landing at the western outskirts."

"The rebels have made it to the outskirts. The troopers are still engaging them but they report that the enemy is fighting hard and that there appears to be some sort of Demon among them.

"Demons don't exist. Capture or kill those rebels, I don't care how" Ordered Kallus angrily.

"Sir the Rebels are boarding the ship."

"Send everything to intercept them, including the Enforcer."

"Aye sir."

(On the Ground)

"Kurabayashi, get back here! We are leaving" yelled Tomita from the cargo bay of the Ghost. The Phantom had detached just before they had landed and was Chopper who was piloting it wasproviding suppression. Kurabayashi and Ishmael were up front fighting the stormtroopers. Itami, and Kanan were already in the cargo bay firing away. An APC had just rounded the corner and had began firing as David and Kurabayashi retreated back to the Ghost under the suppressive fire provided by the Ghosts bow cannon. When the group went aboard the Ghost Hera quickly took off. Tomita noticed that David's uniforms and armor were red now. Tomita thought that he must have fallen into a pool of red paint or something until closer inspection realized that it was blood.

Walking over to the comm station in the now crowded cargo bay of the ghost Ishmael hit the button that opened a channel to the bridge and said "Hera, we got anyone else that I need to kill?"

"Who is this." asked a confused Hera. She thought that she'd heard David for a sec but he sounded different.

"It's Ishmael sweetheart, I'm in control of the weakling called David's body. Now, who else do I need to kill."

"We've got all of our turrets full but we might not make it past the blockade. I didn't expect them to react this quickly. Unless you've got a way to get rid of the TIEs and cruisers coming after us I suggest that you sit tight."

"Let me know when we've left the atmosphere. I've got a plan."replied Ishmael as an evil smile broke across David's face. Turning to Archer he said "Get your suit ready for vacuum Red. We're gonna go outside and give these imperials a bigger party once we leave the atmosphere." Ismael and Archer then ran to the back of their jeep and grabbed their Exo-atmo suits and quickly put them on as the ship began to rock from the airbursts being put out by the TIE fighters and ground based AAA. When they were done Ishmael grabbed a rocket launcher and a rocket case. Archer came out with two extra cases.

"We've just left the atmosphere. We've got some cruisers out front and TIEs to our rear." reported a tense Hera who was struggling with the maneuvers that she was pulling to escape the TIEs unsuccessfully.

David climbed up the ladder and went to the spinal hatch that led to the back of the ship. Once he and Archer were secure in the Airlock, Ishmael and Archer magnetized their boots and opened the hatch. As they climbed out into the silent void they saw green turbolaser shots fly past as Ishmael kneeled down and began to acquire a lock on a TIE fighter that wasn't moving around too much. When he had gotten the lock he pulled down the trigger and the rocket launcher silently flew off to meet the TIE fighter. The pilot saw a puff on the back of the ship but didn't see the missile until it was too late to react.

The High Explosive Anti-Tank warhead tore right through the cockpit before exploding in the back, turning what was once a deadly war machine into a large puff of smoke and assorted metal after a very brief fireball. After confirming that the TIE was dead he radioed in "One EKIA, five more to go."

"Don't worry about the TIEs right now. We've got five cruisers coming in right now." radioed Hera.

"Ahhh, more people's lives to end. I'm so glad that I got to come out when I did. This is far too much fun to miss out on." Replied Ishmael.

Turning around Ishmael saw the strange triangular ships with large blocks sticking from the top. He assumed that the large blockish things housed the bridge and aimed for the one closest to him. When the Ghost leveled out for a second Ishmael fired off the rocket. As his back was turned Chopper who was flying the Phantom docked with the Ghost. The rocket flew in a flat line all the way until it connected with the main viewing window on the bridge. The ship's shields barely even phased the missile that had been designed specifically to penetrate shields and armor much stronger than that of the Imperials which were designed to dissipate turbolaser blasts, not conventional explosives. The missile had traveled well through the bridge before it exploded in the elevator shaft that led to the bridge.

Archer immediately loaded another set of rockets into the back of the launcher and tapped Ishmael's shoulder to let him know that he was loaded again. Seeing a TIE flying directly at him out of the corner of his eye to his left about 5km away, he took a snapshot at the TIE without locking on. The TIE fighter had begun to fire when it saw the missile. Quickly the pilot rolled and pulled up quickly hoping to break any lock. Because Ishmael had not had time to lock on the missile went wide and missed completely but had succeeded in driving off the TIE for now. Seeing another cruiser David aimed at a heavy turbolaser and fired. The missile flew and hit the turret in a grazing shot that still detonated the charge and blew off one of the barrels.

"Ehhh, I need to get out more often" said Ishmael

"Don't count on that" said Archer angrily as she loaded their last set of rockets. Soon over an open channel they heard

"Ghost crew, prepare to recieve assistance."

A small fleet of ships numbering about 6 in strength came out of hyperspace and detached a few mismatched fighters from their hulls which numbered around twenty. They quickly began to engage the TIE fighters. The sheer number of ships was too much for the Imperials. One by one the Imperial ships were destroyed until the only one left was the IMS Enforcer which was damaged and had left the battle with a hull breach and two of its three engines running.

"Ghost, We are transmitting coordinates for hyperspace travel now." came the voice over the radio.

Hera radioed up to Ishmael and Archer "Alright you two, get inside. You did good."

"Roger" replied Archer as she pulled out her pistol and escorted Ishmael down the hatch and back into the cargo bay. After putting down his weapons Ishmael raised his hands and turned to Archer.

"Come on Red, can you please put your piece away, it's hardly necessary." asked Ishmael with a begging face on.

"Not with you it's not. Now get out of him. Your jobs done."

"But I had so much fun" Whined Ishmael.

"You know you're sick right? You killed probably a company's worth of soldiers back their right? You didn't have to kill all of them."

"Yeah, but why not? They're the enemy after all." asked Ishmael unfazed.

"Give. Him. Back." Ordered Archer between clenched teeth, still pointing the pistol at him.

"Alright you win for now. But just remember, I'm always here if you need me, or if you need someone who's a little more fun, If you catch my drift?"

"You disgust me Ishmael. Kurokawa, we're gonna need you here soon." said Archer

"Alright you can have him back now." said Ishmael before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and David's body fell limp to the deck.

Captain Julikas Hamwap

After action report: Rebel activity on Lothal

Subject:Stormtrooper SR-5387 The sole survivor of face to face contact with the acclaimed "Blue Demon"

"That man was a demon. His armor was black except for the shoulder plates and the center of his helmet. They were some shade of blue, He was just a blur against us. We hardly even phased him. I don't know why i'm still alive. He killed my whole squad and left me only because someone else had showed up. It was almost like he viewed them as some sort of toys to be played with. I still hear that Cackling. Ahhh (Subject's head lands on the table as he clenches his hands behind his head and begins sobbing. Subject recommended for reeducation.)

Note: Subject has been traumatized mentally far more than I have ever seen in all my 13 years of service. Whoever this Blue Demon is, is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Update: 2 hours after the after action report was complete SR-5387 committed suicide via blaster shot to his unhelmeted head in his barracks.

David was riding in his truck with his best friends Archer, and Anthony. Anthony was driving with his girlfriend Archer riding shotgun with an old MA5, while I'm sitting in the trunk with my hunting rifle.

"Patrol this area First sergeant said. You'll enjoy the view First sergeant said." complained Anthony as he rounded a corner on the hill in an area that had had no bandit activity in months. I was still bored out of my mind.

"Well, would you rather be getting shot at?" asked Archer

"No but I'd rather be back in my bunk. Sleep has been kind of hard to get with you next to me recently." Said Anthony as he smiled at Archer

"Guy's, what happens in your room stays in your room okay. There's a reason why I agreed to bunk with TJ." I complain from the open back. The top cover of the Spade had been removed because the A/C was busted and it was hot outside on Garuda.

I see a large grain sack over on the left side of the road.

"Hey, I wonder if that dropped that off the back of a JOTUN or something. Pull over in front of it. We can bring it into town."

"Sure" Replies Anthony as he slows down. We're passing the sack when suddenly there's a loud bang and I feel myself flying. I see a group of men walking over to our truck. One of them sees me and jumps on me with a knife. He tries to plunge it into my neck.

I bolt upright, every muscle in my body ready to run or fight. I feel hands grab me and I turn and almost punch Kurokawa in the face. She locks her blue eyes with mine and says

"David calm down. You were having a nightmare, you're fine." Says Kurokawa in a soft and soothing voice. I relax and rest my face in my hands. I'm okay, I feel the metal band on my right hand rest against my face. I'm sweating and I have an IV running from my arm to a pouch taped up to the handle of a truck. Looking around I see that I'm in some sort of room with one of the walls being made out of a Komatsu LAV, and the others out of miscellaneous cargo boxes, making a 5'x10' room with the dominating pieces being my cot and the camping stool that Kurokawa was currently sitting on. .

I feel strange, I lift the blanket that was covering me and see that I have no clothes on.

"Really" I complain

She shrugged and said "I'm sorry but I had to. I'll go fetch you some clothes." Then she stood up and left through a curtain made by one of my old woobies.

I stretch and do a mental checklist of my body

Right arm, good

Left arm, good

Right leg, kinda funny feeling

Left leg, good

Head, sore

I feel the side of my leg and feel some sort of bandage. Lifting the blanket I see a glowing blue bandage taped to my leg. I leave it, not wanting to do something wrong when it comes to my personal health. My stomach grumbles; man I'm hungry

The curtain lifts and Archer walks in behind Kurokawa. Kurokawa is carrying a FROG suit in her hands and Archer walks in with a pistol drawn.. She isn't smiling. she asks "Where did we meet?"

"Oh, right, on a camping trip in Heckler park." I say. Archer's face instantly softens and she smiles before holstering her pistol

"So how long have I been out?" I ask

"About 50 hours,"Answers Kurokawa "you slept like a rock until you had my nightmare. What is the last thing that you remember?"

"Just pain, the last thing was just feeling this unbearable pain. It was like every nerve in my body was being triggered, especially in my head. I really don't wanna talk about this right now Doc."

Smiling she says "please call me Mari."

"Alright Do-Mari, sorry, do you mind if me and David have a moment alone? I've gotta explain some things to him." asks Archer

"Sure, If you need anything just yell." replies Mari as she walks out of their makeshift room. As soon as she's gone, Archer Lunges at David and hugs him tighter than anything he'd ever had before. Despite the fact that Archer was only about 5'3" she could still produce a massive amount of strength.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Again. I thought that I might have lost you too." Sobs archer into David's shoulder, her metal band on her left rest digging into his back a little.

This surprised David, he hadn't seen his friend be like this in a long time.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Says David

Getting back up she slugs David in the shoulder. "I'm gonna hold you to that" she says as she dries her eyes.

"Ahhh, I'm worth crying over now. I guess I should count myself lucky to be worth crying over by the famous Archer Stormcrow." Mocks David, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

Not one to be insulted she instantly replies "Enjoy it while you can you heartless punk. I don't plan on it happening again." jabbing her finger into his chest.

"Good, now can you get this tube out of me and find me some chow. I'm starving here."

"Sure" she replied. She grabs David's arm, grabs a small piece of bandage and covers the needle as she removes the IV from his arm to keep the blood from going everywhere. She tapes it down and then leaves David in privacy to get himself dressed. David then gets up and gets his FROG suit on. He had absconded the balaclava that came with it and just stuck to the uniforms. The design of the FROG suit had been around since the 21st century and received few modifications but they were still the favorite uniform of any soldier due to their comfort compared to the other available uniforms. Davids was patterned in DPM woodland, his preferred camouflage pattern. He walks over to the curtain and lifts it to see a soldier with a blaster rifle standing guard. Looking around David recognizes that this isn't the Ghost's cargo bay, it's much larger with a few small aircraft in it. The guard notices David and says "I'm sorry sir, but I've been ordered to not let you leave this area until ordered otherwise." David looks at the young guard confused at first but then it strikes him. He could of been Ishmael and done some 'funny things' inside the ship. David walks back in and sits back on his cot.

The curtain was pulled back and Mari walked back in with a tray of food in her hands. Archer was right behind her. She hands David the tray and David politely said Arigato. Mari blushes just a little bit. He placed Mari at an age of around 22. Her hair by now was too long to be military but then again, her military now belonged to the UNSC if they were still in the same date system. Thinking about it David felt around his face and detected a mustache growing on his face along with the beginnings of a beard. Looking down at the tray of hot food sitting in his lap David took his utensils and began to eat the strange food He was honestly too hungry to really care anymore though considering that he hadn't actually eaten anything in over two days. The IV that he had running through him did nothing about an empty stomach, but it kept him alive. When he was done He set his tray to the side and looking at the both of them he asked "So what happened while I was out?"

"Well, It turns out that the rebellion is bigger than just those two ships that we've been on. They use a cell system so the Empire has been having trouble getting em all. This is one of their first major encounters with imperials before and they heard about your situation and transferred us here. The Ghost is attached to this squadron but we're on a different ship until space can be found for all of us.

"How is the rest of the group? Did Kurata and everyone else make it back safe?" asks David

"Yeah they're all okay. We picked em up right after you passed out." answers Mari

"Yeah, about that. Why is my head sore, and why was I naked when I woke up?" asks David glaring a little at Mari.

"As for your head, no one caught you on the way to the deck. Your clothes were absolutely ruined though. They were covered in blood and I couldn't tell if you were bleeding. You were a little by the way, you took a blaster bolt to the leg. The Bacta patch that the ship's doctor gave fixed it though. Apparently it speeds up the process of healing. How does it feel on your leg?" replied Mari.

"It feels kinda weird. It feels good though, kinda like taking a shot of Morphine." Answers David.

Mari asks "So, if you don't mind me asking, what was your nightmare about?"

"A day that I'm never gonna forget." Answers David solemnly.

Someone knocks on the crate that made up the other wall to David's room. The guard outside says "Sir, Ma'am, Commander Sato would like to you three." Mari and Archer look at David and he turns to the door from his position on the cot and says "It's cool, come in."

Parting the curtain, in walked a human male with brown hair that was greying and brown eyes. He was about 5'9" and had the posture of a naval officer. Rising, all three saluted the commander. Returning the salute, Sato said "At ease, It is good to see you are alive and well Lieutenant McCoy. Lieutenant Stormcrow and Sergeant First Class Kurokawa have already met me but When I saw Sergeant Kurokawa and Lieutenant Archer grabbing extra food for you I knew that I must introduce myself to the _Blue Demon_." Sitting back down on the cot with Mari and Archer pulling up the camping stool the room was beginning to become crowded.

"Blue Demon?" asks David confused

"We've been monitoring Imperial transmissions and warrants. There's now a bounty out for a man wearing black and blue armor. The bounty said that you were last seen leaving the settlement of Lothan about two days ago covered head to toe in blood. Congratulations, you are now worth 20,000 credits."

"So you weren't kidding Mari? I really was covered in blood? Damn, Ishmael was pretty thorough wasn't he?" said David

"Yes he was, which brings me to a rather interesting question. Who is this Ishmael and more importantly, can he be controlled?"

"I can keep a leash on him. He hasn't been in charge for over six years. The only reason why it happened this time was because I took a very powerful drug that temporarily put down the barrier. He's not coming back out unless he needs to be out."

"Does this require some form of medicine?" Asked Sato a little confused but he seemed to be following.

"No, after the first time I never have to take the meds again."

"Very well then, Lieutenant I would like to welcome you to Phoenix squadron. We are happy to have you. Your friends have already been informed. If you wish, you can go see them. We'll try not to separate you. Lieutenant Itami has already informed me of your _special situation_."

"Thank you sir. " replied David as the commander took his leave. Looking back at Archer and Mari he asked "What could possibly go wrong?"

 **A/N So what do ya think? Yay, Nay, Let me know. Half the reason I do this is to see how people would react to my writing, and to Improve it off of that. So PLEASE REVIEW, and have a good un'**

 **Oralor Yaim Tigar Brikar Bat Bir**


	12. Chapter 12

Archer and Mari had left about an hour ago and I was left to ponder what had happened. I'm now wanted by this gigantic empire in a galaxy that I just got into about a week ago. I've met famous war heroes from almost six centuries ago who turn out to be pretty cool people, seen aliens that aren't going to remind me of the covenant every time I see them wearing purple. I've also just had someone else take over my body for the first time in years, and then I wake up to find out that I'm now famous and can't even wear my helmet or shoulder pads anywhere because It'll give me away. Well, there's some more things to check off the bucket list. Rising from my cot, I walk out of my room and look at my guard.

"Can I go somewhere else now?" I ask hoping to find everyone else and make sure that they're still alive and well.

"Yes," replied the guard "but I'm going to have to escort you wherever you go."

I start walking. "Yeah thats cool I guess, but I have one question for you."

"Ask away sir." replied the young sailor.

"Do you really think that you can stop me from doing anything?" I ask over my shoulder.

The guard stopped at this remark for a second, staring at David's back before continuing behind him now doubting his ability.

David turns down the passageway that leads down a deck and then to the somewhat large mess hall. When he entered he saw Mari, Archer, Itami, and Kurabayashi sitting at a circular booth in a corner on the opposite side of the room with a few trays of food in front of them. Seeing him, Mari waved her hand and beckoned him over to the table where the group scooted over to make room for him. As he crossed the room David noticed all of the curious glances from the crew members that saw not only him, but his armed escort. Sighing he sat down next to Kurabayashi who was at the side with the most space. As he sat down his guard pulled up a chair and sat down at a table that was empty and kept a watchful eye on him.

"So Lieutenant, How much stuff do you carry when you've got you're full kit on? It seemed a little on the heavy side when we were taking it off." asked Kurabayashi right off the bat. This caught the whole group off guard a little who had expected some form of awkward silence, especially with the fact that two of them were sergeants and the rest were all lieutenants.

"Oh, I think it's about 30 kilos. Unless we're talking about exo-atmo, then it's about 35."

"Yeah, so when did this UNSC start exactly Lieutenant?"

"First off, don't call me by rank. I'm not technically supposed to be a lieutenant anyways and neither is Archer. The UNSC was formed in 2163 when we started colonizing other planets. It was designed so that the United Earth Government can provide aid and defend the earth and its colonies. You guys missed out on the part where they had to decide what divisions to keep. Yours was eventually deactivated." Itami, Mari and Kurabayashi now pondered this, remembering that they were truly people out of their times.

Ever the curious one Kurabayashi then asks "If you're not supposed to be a lieutenant, then what happened?"

Sighing David tells a story "Back a couple years ago, I was a staff sergeant, and I was working with a UNSC 2nd lieutenant who was incompetent in strategy. We were in a bad situation where there was only one real way to get out and I told him so, but he pulled rank on me. A lot of people died because of that man. When I told my boss who was ONI at the time, our equivalent of the CIA, what had happened, they promoted both of us to first lieutenant to reduce the chance of that happening again."

"So, you're really a sergeant?" asked Itami

"Yes, but you can call me David for now. I don't think rank really matters here." he said as he looked at the other crewmembers who wore mismatched clothing.

"Well it has certainly been an interesting week. Hell, it's been a crazy year. Kuwahara is still speaking in broken english, And both me and Kurata are going insane without any new manga, By the way, both of us raided your stache of Manga. You've got some interesting stuff in there though. Pretty diverse too, a lot of them aren't very mainstream either, but I've also come across quite a few that I didn't recognize at all." Said Itami

Upon hearing the news that his private manga had been read without permission he was about to chew them out until he realised that only one person knew where he kept his manga in the first place and shot Archer a very dirty look.

Acting surprised archer asks "What?" with a spoon full of some sort of noodles in her mouth.

"Why did you give them my Manga? That stuff was worth hundreds of credits."

"It's just manga." Said Archer. Both David and Itami were about to start getting angry again when Ahsoka showed up at their table. She pulled up a chair at from another table and sat down on it which diverted the attention of the group for the moment.

"You've all been declared as enemies of the empire and Kuwahara has been put into the system. They have not identified you guys yet, so you should be able to walk freely from this if you want, but your friend is going to have to get a new identity. Getting in the way of an imperial officer is a pretty high crime that tends to follow you around." She stated after a slight pause.

"Yeah about that, how do we know for certain that we're on the right side here? If you can, I'd like to see this empire for myself. I don't have any way of knowing what you say is true or not." Replied David. Everyone within earshot but Archer turned and looked at David almost as if he had something incredibly stupid. Archer, not wanting her friend to be left out of the loop explained

"When you were out, I was taken down to the surface of another planet, one that they call Dancoon 4, I saw soldiers acting like those thugs that we found in Gracemeria when we first got back there. They're literally robbing people in the streets, and they can't do anything about it."

Hearing this from someone that he trusted with more than his life confirmed what the rebels were saying. What Archer told him, along with what he saw in the market was now almost enough to convince him. What nailed it though was how he remembered the stall owner that he gave his MREs to, which brought up another thought.

Sighing before making eye contact with Ahsoka again he says "Alright, I don't trust you completely, but you've convinced me. Now, where's my stuff, and the others? And more importantly" David shifts his gaze over to Itami and Kurata "Where's my Manga?"


	13. Chapter 13: Method to my Madness

A/N * Dear readers,

I'm mildly disturbed at the lack of a response that i'm getting from any of you. I write this stuff so that I can A: give you something to keep all of you entertained and hopefully get a positive response out of and B: Improve my writing which can help with objective A. So for God's sake REVIEW!

I can take just about any form of criticism and _**CONSTRUCTIVE**_ criticism is always appreciated. You don't have to be some expert writer but if you do a hate review, I will come after you and criticise the S*** out of your stories. So do review any way that you please. It helps the both of us out in the long run; plus I need someone to talk to anyways, so PMs are appreciated as well.

Sincerely,

Your friendly neighborhood ODST

DWITD0421

(yesterday?)

"I'll be honest, I'm not certain whether or not it is safe to keep someone like him on our ship. Even if what Hera and Kanan says is true. We intercepted some of the transmissions about the debriefing of the survivors. Only one stormtrooper survived contact with him and he was so traumatized that he committed suicide. This doesn't exactly set the best reputation for someone who wants to help people." Says commander Sato to Ahsoka across the holotable aboard the bridge of his ship Phoenix home

"No, but his abilities could definitely benefit us and our cause." Replied Ahsoka

"I hate to interject, but that person who caused all of that death and destruction was not David." Said Archer as she opened the door to the bridge. She was wearing a brown T-shirt and a pair of BDU pants and boots, her auburn hair tied in a ponytail as she walked into the room to join the two rebel leaders as they discussed someone who she considered to be her surrogate brother.

"Ishmael was in charge that time." stated the soldier

"Ishmael?" asked Sato confused

Sighing and resting her elbows on the edge of the table in the dimly lit bridge she began

"About three years ago when David and I had just become Marines we were sent on a patrol of an area that had been quiet for a while and our company commander wanted to go out and check out how things were going in the local area. We were under strength at the time so it was just me, David, and my... friend, Anthony. We were driving down the road when we saw a grain sack on the side of the road. We pulled over to pick it up, thinking that it belonged to farmer somewhere and it had fallen off the back of a truck or something. There was an explosion and I was thrown from the truck into the bushes. I had broken my arm and was knocked out.

When I came to, Anthony was dead, he had been killed by the blast and David was gone. I got picked up a half hour later and we tracked down the bastards who took David. They were in an old prison that had been abandoned at the beginning of the civil war about two years before that. When we broke into the facility and disabled the automated security system, we captured most of the people working inside except for the man in charge who was a scientist." She paused as Sato and Ahsoka remained silent.

"He had been performing human trials for a drug that the guards called Psycho. It was supposed to induce someone into a killing rage that would make you feel less pain and be an all around killing machine. At least that's what the papers that we found said. The problem was that when we got there the good doctor had just given David a refined formula while staying in the same room. He must have underestimated the effects because David was tied down to a table in the old infirmary. We saw the footage that was recorded afterwards, and we saw David actually break the restraints and kill him by ripping his throat out with his teeth." Sato's face took on a look of surprise as Archer continued her story.

"When he was done he sat down on the table and waited. We thought that he was sane and the other guys brought him out of there. He was communicating with the corpsman normally so the guards lowered their weapons, thinking that the drug was short lived. When they let their guard down he attacked them, screaming that Ishmael would get his blood for the day. Happily, these marines had seen combat previously and managed to restrain him again until the doc sedated him. After a few weeks in a hospital on Mars, one of the best in the galaxy, They injected him with a medication and a shrink helped him set up a mental barrier, I don't know the specifics.

Then he got reassigned back to our unit again and we revisited that old prison on another patrol with more guys. I turns out that the Scientist had tried a similar drug on others that was drinkable. When the el-tee wasn't looking, He snuck some vials of the stuff into his first aid kit. He saw the videos of himself, and the others who the scientist had tested on and saw an emergency weapon that could be useful if he was desperate enough. I've only seen Ishmael in person once before this, and that was when we were surrounded by about 200 insurrectionist. The nearest help was on another planet and we had to get out, otherwise we would have been killed. It took a full day for the stuff to wear off and I still had to knock him out to do it.

Ishmael is a whole other mind that mostly remains dormant until he takes that drug. He hates taking it because he has no control of anything at all when Ishmael is in charge. He's almost the complete opposite of David. He kills for the fun of it, and he's trying to become the dominating mind but I highly doubt that that's gonna happen. If David can go without that stuff long enough, I think that he'll be gone all together.

Normally David's just a kind and peaceful person who helps everyone who needs it. That's the only reason why he became a soldier, to fight for those who can't. He's always been placed others above himself and won't let anyone do something dangerous instead of him. I've always admired that about him." Finished Archer before going silent again

"What you say may be true, but what cannot be hanged however is the fact that he is now wanted by the empire. However, none of you were identified because the town is so poor that there was no good security camera system, and anyone who got close enough to you to identify any of you is now dead." Said Sato as he and Ahsoka tried to be careful about the words that they chose. The bridge crew had learned long ago that what was said on the bridge stayed on the bridge, but there was only so much that one could trust their sailors with.

The seriousness in the moment however, wouldn't last when Kurata came in with his ever present smile asking "Hey Archer, you got a moment? Kurokawa-nis was looking for you, something about the tattoo on the back of his head?"

This turned out to be the break that the three were looking for in the uncomfortable conversation and Archer and Ahsoka took their leave and left Commander sato to do things that fleetmasters do.


	14. Chapter 14: Decisions

David was in the smaller hangar where his truck was stored resting on the cot that he had woken up on from his coma cleaning his various weapons, while blasting some of his music. Earlier he had given Itami and Kurata a pretty serious ass chewing over how they had taken some of his precious manga without asking. After all, he had spent hundreds of credits on that stuff. The crew however were all a little confused about what was going on because David had switched to rapid fire japanese, a tribute to how far a nerd is willing to go for his manga.

He was in the process of cleaning the bolt group on his DMR with an old toothbrush when the woobie that was substituting for his door currently was moved aside to reveal a tall, blonde, woman with a soft, motherly expression about her face. Her hair was cut at shoulder length and she was wearing mandalorian armor; but the first thing that David noticed, because he was a human, dude, was her large chest, followed by the equipment that she wore that marked her as a warrior. She then asked "Are you David McCoy? I'm looking for him."

"I'm who you're looking for. What brings you looking?" asked David as he set the bolt and toothbrush on a old towel that he had placed on the cot and stood to turn down the volume on his speaker.

"I'm Li Spragg, the person who you and your friends saved from an execution." replied the woman as she entered the "room" and extended her hand.

"Oh yeah. I'm not the only one who did all the work though." Replied the marine as he shook the mandalorians hand.

"Well, I still wanted to thank you, none the less. You did help save my life and I've met the other people who helped. You being in a coma for two days didn't really allow me to meet you." she said as she smiled at him. "By the way, what music was that? I've never heard anything like it before and I kind of like it."

"What, oh that was called swing music. It's actually considered quite ancient where I come from. It was popular on my core planet about six hundred years ago. I've always found it to be good music." replied David as he turned up the speaker a little to allow Benny Goodman's Sing, Sing, Sing to be heard while still allowing for conversation.

"It is definitely an interesting sort of music. Now I'm just curious, Why did you help me? Most people wouldn't want to go and make themselves enemies of the empire."

"Well, you see, you were actually a bonus to what we were originally getting. An old man who I've come to admire as an NCO was there for unjust reasons and the people who helped me were sort of legends to my culture."

"Well all the same, I am still thankful, If there is anything that you need, let me know. I am a trained warrior and pilot so if you and your friends need some extra help, i'll be there."

"I'll keep that In mind." replied David as Li turned and walked out of his room.

He was about to return to cleaning his weapon when Commander Sato walked in and David stood at the position of attention.

"As you were soldier, I have come here for a rather personal matter regarding you and your friends."

Said the commander.

David then returned to his seat on the cot and offered the commander the camping stool that was next to it.

"So what's this all about commander?" asks David

"Your homeland."

David remained silent and sat up a little,every part of him tense as a bowstring. The navigator that he talked to earlier said that he would try and find any sort of maps of any sort of system that matched any maps that David, or Archer's Tac-Pads had.

"I'm afraid to say that there is no way to get you home. There is no map of anything within a hundred thousand parsecs of where you describe. Even if there was anything relatively close, it would probably take decades to reach it." The commander gave David a moment to process this information as David put his head in his hands for a second. Then he lifted his head and said "Commander, if there really is no way home, I would like to ensure the safety of my friends. Have they decided to join you and your little rebellion?"

"All but Ms. Stormcrow, you have also given us a new recruit as well, Ms. Spragg has agreed to help us when we need her." He pauses to take a breath and think before he states

"We are going to be forming a unit of ground soldiers who can fight. This rebellion will need people like you, for the sake of those who can't fight. It would greatly help those citizens under Imperial tyranny. If you join, we are planning a raid on an airfield where you can look into the Imperial database. I know I would still have my doubts if I were in your situation so we'll give you the opportunity to see that we are truly helping these people and are not some terrorists."

"Thank you commander, What unit would it be?"

"The 666th Tactical Surface Fighting Squad. It would have you, your friends, and some other rebels in it if you were to join."

"Thank you commander, I would like to think this over a bit before coming to a decision."

"I will give you today to decide, after that we can drop you off at a settlement to restart your life or you can help us in our fight against tyranny." replied Sato as he got up and walked past the curtain. David then went about finishing up cleaning his weapons.

(Observation deck)

David was resting his head and arms on the frame of the large, curved, window that stretched across the width of the deck that was above the bridge. He was deep in thought about what had just happened to him. He had just been informed that, as far as anyone is aware, he can no longer go home. He was wearing his normal BDU pants and a brown t-shirt along with his boots. Staring out into the abyss of space had always been sort of soothing, yet haunting to David. The calm and peace of knowing that out there, there is simply planets and lives going on besides his own, or that of his immediate surroundings. But there was nothing in space that life could live in. One had to fight to survive out in space, as in life, something that some people were still forgetting back home.

"Home." said David to himself.

"Thought I might find you here"

David turned to see his best friend walking out of the turbolift dressed in the same manner as David, though she lacked his hard light sword attached to his hip.

"Well if it isn't the Fiery Red Queen. What brings you up here?" asks David

"I needed to be alone." replied the redhead

"Well I hope that you don't mind being alone with me." Says David

"Not at all" says Archer as she rests her head next to david on the same window frame.

They sat there in silence for a moment before Archer said "So we're really stuck out here, huh?"

"Eh? Yeah, I guess so. I just don't know what I'm gonna do." grunts David

"We're, what _we're_ gonna do. I'm still gonna be there for you."

"If I didn't know any better I'd say that you married me or something."

"Six years of living in the dirt with someone will do that to ya."

"Six years, Has it really been that long?"

"Ever since Gracemeria."

"Some would say that our youth was stolen."

"In a sense it was."

"Looks like I won't be able to go to Dublin Like Grandpa wanted me to."

"Or to Mt. Victory again."

"We'll see other mountains out here at least. They've gotta have some."

"Guess you missed your opportunity to go to ComicCon."

"Yeah, don't rub it in. I just don't know if I want to get into another war. I've already been through two and i'm only twenty-three. If I'm not careful, I won't know anything else."

"Except the mountains, or the forest, or the animals, or how to raise hell in a small town with a driver's license."

"I only broke Mr. Johnson's fence."

"And Grandpa busted your ass over that till you fixed it."

"That fence had been needing fixing for years."

"True."

"What happened down in those towns that you went to? Is it really that bad?"

"Yes, everywhere I went I saw the same stuff that the legion did. I had even managed to give my escort the slip to see for myself what was happening. Everywhere, there was public beatings that were unprovoked, outright robbing, and they actually burned a shop down."

"What have the rebels done?"

"They're guerillas right now. But the fact that we've got a small MEU here tells me that they might start getting big soon."

"Are they predator, prey, or shepard?"

"Shepherds for the most part. I was able to help with a food delivery to a refugee camp that had nothing but tents and a small well for a couple thousand people. Like the Minutemen"

"You sure?"

"At least phoenix squadron is from what I've seen. There's no way that a whole MEU can be this nice to this many people if it wasn't genuine."

"You get offered a job too?"

"Yeah, the 666th. Isn't that a unit from one of your animes?"

"Yeah, the Schwarzesmarken. Ive actually got the patch so we could have some form of normalcy."

"Well If you're down I am to."

"I won't let people suffer needlessly."

"Why don't we give them our answer in the morning."

"Aye"

Archer then scooted over to David and rested her head on his shoulder, the two soldiers finding some security in each other.


	15. Chapter 15: Earning the Mark

In the briefing room of Phoenix home, the various crewmember volunteers, soldiers, and other galaxiers were assembled and getting to know each other. They would be apart of the group together and have to learn to trust each other if they wanted to survive together.

The Mandalorian, Li Spragg, a Bothan by the name of Kus Monat, a human mechanic by the name of Alimal Lockpot, Itami, Kurata, Kurokawa,Kurabayashi, and Tomita. David and Archer made up those present to become members of the 666th Tactical Surface Fighter Squad. The briefing room was nothing more than five rows of padded seats, a podium in the right corner next to a projection screen and in the back of the room was a door to the hallway. Kuwahara had joined the men in the room but he had explained earlier that he was not well enough to participate in any sort of fighting and "Might never be young enough to do it again." The group by now was chatting up a storm when Commander Sato walked in and Kuwahara yelled "Attention on deck!"

All present stood at attention, the japanese and marines saluting as they stood at attention. Sato returned the salute as he made his way to the podium. When he was certain that everyone was present he said "Please be seated."

The soldiers returned to their seats as Commander Sato dimmed the lights and turned on the projector. The projector displayed a 3D map of a small fenced in Imperial Barracks. There were few buildings other than the Headquarters building, and the main barracks itself. Immediately David, Archer, and Itami began to analyze what they saw for flaws that could be exploited.

"This is an Imperial garrison that contains a battalion sized element of stormtroopers. It has been used as a command and control center for the brigade assigned to this region. As such, it is the central nerve center for the entire 679th Stormtrooper brigade which is attached to the 907th legion. Our objective is to infiltrate the base and disable this command post so that continued operations in the region can be continued. This region is important because it is relatively far from anything that has a high population density and is therefore a viable position to begin a guerilla war in. The terrain lends itself to us as well due to the fact that the surrounding area is relatively mountainous." Cmdr. Sato says before zooming out to display the area that the base commanded.

David estimated to be about the size of his home prefect on Garuda which was about 1,700,000 square kilometers. Quite a large area for such a small command post. Commander Sato wasn't wrong though, the mountains created dozens of valleys where multiple villages were set up. It would require very large numbers to dislodge any sort of sizeable force in the area that was rooted in.

It also reminded him of his old enemy, the Insurrectionists. They had used the same sort of terrain to their advantage on multiple worlds. The results had been an extremely elusive enemy that some of the more superstitious claimed to be more spirit than physical human. David had lost friends to those ghosts on more than one occasion before. One, however, could not argue with the effectiveness of the tactics.

"We plan to infiltrate the base without anyone noticing so that we can plant a bug and when the time comes, we'll disable the communications system. Questions?" asked Cmdr. Sato

Alimal raised his hand and said "Yes, what sort of security are we dealing with?"

Alimal was a human mechanic from the fleet who had volunteered for the 666th after getting into a fight with his NCO in the engine room aboard another corvette. He was an absolute genius with anything mechanical, but he despised when people who were less qualified than him were in positions of power unless they earned his respect. He was also known to carry a hip flask everywhere he went that was emptied regularly but never seemed to stay that way somehow.

"There is one understrength company that has been deployed to where there is always someone watching every corner and dark spot on the base. So sneaking over the fence is out of the question. The sewage and maintenance tunnels are also monitored through a camera and trap system that we can not enter through. Even if you could disable both the traps and the cameras, there are guards watching the cameras at all times; if they go down, someone will know. There is always a squad of stormtroopers who are ready to react at any moment; they are located in the barracks. The other companies are regularly on patrol out in the mountains, though there has been little rebel activity in the past year or so. In short, they have a top notch security system and every entrance covered. We do however have the ability to jam their radios for about two hours." Says Cmdr. Sato

"What about from above?" The whole meeting turns their heads towards the back Where Archer was sitting.

"There are four TIE fighters stationed there and two light cruisers in orbit. The only ship that we can spare at the moment is the Corvette _Pioneer's Shepard._ So a ship dropping you off and picking you up isn't a viable option." Replies the Commander.

"I'm not talking about an air assault. I'm Talking about an Orbital Drop." replies the Redhead. Cmdr. Sato scratches the back of his head and turns to reevaluating the area. There was only one anti-aircraft gun and that was designed to deal with low and slow flying corvettes.

"How would you plan to survive something like that? An escape pod?" Asks Li

"That could work actually." says Alimal. Everyone now was looking at Alimal and the ODSTs like they had just turned every shade of color on the rainbow.

"That was our job back where we're from" explained Archer "We would get individual pods and drop from low orbit behind enemy lines and complete our objectives, Which was typically wreck anything and everything that the enemy could use against us."

"Where exactly are you from?" asks the Bothan named Kus

"The soldiers in uniform are not from this galaxy apparently. They have seen what the empire has done here and decided to join our cause, they know of different forms of warfare that neither we nor the empire might know which could give us an advantage." explained Sato "But back to the idea of an orbital drop, how would that work?"

"Stick us into escape pods, calculate a solution so that you drop us where you want us, then we drop." Said David nonchalantly, despite the complexity of that task that he had stated.

"If we arrive with surprise on our side, the _Pioneer's Shepard_ could lay down some arty on the stormtroopers just before we drop so that we can do more damage."

"We want to do this quietly and violence isn't the answer." said Cmdr. Sato

"Actually it is." Says Kuwahara as he raises his hand. "I may be old, but even I know that it is far better for my enemy to be dead than wounded in a situation like this. We made a mistake like that back in Korea and we paid for it later."

The people who were not from the andromeda galaxy looked to each other confused about where exactly Korea was but they decided to roll with it.

"Very well then, 1st Lieutenant David McCoy, I leave this mission planning to you and now formally place you in command of the 666th Tactical Surface Fighter Squad."

Everyone, including David was surprised by this announcement. What no one else but his partner knew,was that he had only been an officer for seven months, as opposed to Itami who had been an officer his entire time in the JGSDF.

I'm no leader. I'm just an NCO, not an officer. Itami should be leading this sort of thing, he's at least fought the NKPA and the PLA. I've only dealt with rogue covies and innies. Neither of those really count as an organized enemy.

All of these thoughts ran through David's head until a shock to his arm snapped him out of his stupor. He turned to see that Kurabayashi had delivered the blow, she was smiling at him encouragingly. He then saw all of the people present looking at him, waiting. Kus Mothan, the Bothan, seemed a little disappointed at letting this random human lead him, but he swallowed his pride for now. So David stood and walked over to the hologram and then looked around for some sort of pointer to use. Seeing none, he simply drew his knife and used it to explain his plan.

"Alright guys, save your complaining for after I get done talking. You might not like the plan but I can promise that if I didn't have faith that it would work, I wouldn't suggest it so here's the plan."


	16. Chapter 16: crashing sucks

"Come on Kurabayashi! she aint new to this game, go all out!" Yelled Kuwahara, getting his DI on.

"Youkai!"

Kurabayashi and Li spragg were now circling each other inside of a ring made out of tape in the cargo bay of the Pioneer's Shepard. Kurabayashi, in a moment of boredom had decided to challenge each of the members of the newly formed 666th to a sparring match. Kuwahara, Tomita, Lockpot, and Archer had declined, But Li and David figured that nothing like a good fight would break the boredom. It had been decided that in order for the operation to be a success, they would wait until the point where most of the stormtroopers would be out on patrol so that there would be minimal resistance, in theory.

That was two weeks from today, so keeping entertained was going to be a bit of a problem. Archer had decided to talk to Kurokawa about learning Japanese from her, as well as letting the two have some girl time while the other's returned to being their usual, heathen, selves.

The two combatants had put on gloves and taped old bandages over the knuckles to make makeshift MMA gloves so that they didn't seriously wreck anything on each other. Li moved calmly and never broke eye contact with Kurabayashi as she held her fists up to her face in a blocking position, her stance athletic but still a little tall. Kurabayashi on the other hand had the look of a hungry wolf ready to leap forward. She kept her stance low and her hands were low but still ready to come up to block a punch to the jaw.

Li decided to attack Kurabayashi's obvious aggression so that she wouldn't have to deal with Kurabayashi's attack. She threw a left hand jab which Shino then dodged quickly before she shot to grab both of the Mandalorians legs behind the knees, the sergeant's left knee in between Li's as she brought up her right leg, planted it and swept Li's legs out from under her as she was pushed sideways, instead of backwards like she had been expecting.

Landing on her back a few feet to her right from where she started, the blonde warrior decided to bring her knee to her chest as she rested on her right side, in hopes that she could get a kick off. Kurabayashi's plan to immediately obtain side control was thwarted but she still had an advantage in being in a controlling position as the fight continued. Outside the ring, sailors, mechanics, pilots, and soldiers were yelling at the top of their lungs, credits in hand as bets were made and the gamblers were cheering on their picks to win. Many had placed the Mandalorian in favor to win, simply because she was a Mandalorian. However, some of the older gamblers saw how the Japanese sergeant carried herself and put some money down on Kurabayashi, seeing a good fight about to begin.

Li grunted as Kurabayashi finally gained control of her left side and slammed most of her chest down onto the mando's chest as she tried to solidify her position so that she could move to a better one. Li decided to use the sergeants weight against her by grabbing the collar of her T-shirt with her left hand, and slid her but out from under Shino's weight while pulling the collar down to the deck. She then stood up and backed off as Kurabayashi got back up, spitting a little blood from her mouth onto the metal deck smiling and nodding at her opponent.

"No more playing around eh?" Said Li

"Let's get it started in here" Replied Shino

David McCoy's Kickass playlist track 8

"Let's get it Started"

Black eyed Peas

Play?

As Fergie's voice came over David's portable speaker that he had placed on the deck the two combatants returned to circling each other. Everyone present was finding themselves moving to the beat. Li decided to take a gamble, and spun around in order to build momentum for her foot to make contact or at least drive her opponent back. She however was not expecting Shino to actually close distance during the kick and stop it with her hands by pushing against Li's upper thigh, therefore killing the force before it hit her. This knocked the mando off balance which made it easy for Shino to duck under her opponent's leg, come up behind her and begin to choke her. While Li's hands went instinctively to her throat in order to combat the choke, Shino wrapped her legs around Li's Torso and used her weight to drag them both to the ground which further tipped the scales in favor of the feisty sergeant.

Li was doing her hardest to pull the arm off of her throat as she began to experience tunnel vision, but Shino was too strong to simply peel off of yourself. She then saw a green uniformed man get closer as she continued to struggle until the pressure suddenly released and Shino stood up. Li's vision began to return and her extremities felt fuzzy as Kuwahara leaned over her to check for any signs of damage. When Li responded to all of his questions he explained

"You fought hard, but you went limp there so i stopped it, you lost."

"Damn" replied Li as she was helped up by the old sergeant

Taking one hand for each opponent he raised Shino's and the roar of approval and disbelief flooded the room as money began to change hands and the two combatants gave each other a hug before they both walked over to Kurokawa to get a quick check up. Now the song had ended once the two fighters made it to where the medic was sitting down with Archer.

"You know, I will never understand why he listens to such old songs" Says Archer after giving Li a clean bill of health and sending her on her way with a slap on the back.

"What do you mean?" asks Kurokawa. As far as she was aware, the black eyed peas were still jamming in concerts

"He always seemed like a man born in the wrong time. He's always been far more interested in the past than in the present. The only other time that he worries about is the future, unless it's a battle, a game, or his friends. All else he just considers it to be a bunch of noise. He especially hates listening to politics, He's been sick off those fat cats ever since I've known him."

"Well at least I know that that hasn't changed."

"What?"

"Politicians are still idiots."

"Actually, he doesn't blame the politicians."

Mari looks back at her fellow soldier "He doesn't?"

"His thought is that if there are enough dumb people out there, they'll put an idiot up front to lead them. He has a line on the subject" She stands up, crosses her arms then says "Never underestimate stupidity in large numbers" while waving her finger. She held this pose for a second before smiling along with Mari.

"He's definitely an interesting man. From what I've seen so far, he's an Otaku, an excellent fighter, a comedian, and a historian of sorts. I never thought that i would see a combination like that." States Kurokawa.

"He certainly is, he's changed a lot since he was twelve when we met. He's still devoted to helping others before himself, but he's definitely matured a lot."

"You think so?" Kurokawa was kind of perplexed by this strange man. He was a warrior, no doubt about it, but he didn't act like a man who had been an experienced veteran, he was still approachable, and he kept smiling. She hadn't been expecting this when she found out that he had been a soldier since he was 17. He sounded like the stories about african children called "Dog Soldiers" on the news. They had all seemed damaged to say the least, many were outright insane. David seemed like a mostly normal person, aside from being a soldier.

Now the circle had reformed as Kurabayashi and David reentered the ring. Kurabayashi was now rested up after her short break, and ready to go again. Kuwahara stood in between them as they touched gloves and Kuwahara stepped back to let them circle each other they circled Kurabayashi got closer and closer, waitning for the moment to spring forward and strike. Her stance was the same as before, while David approached with a more balanced stance that still allowed him to move quickly. He had a plan however, when someone else makes a mistake, you can always learn from them. So he waited until the smaller sergeant decided that she was tired of waiting and sprang forward to get the same double leg take down as before. DAvid had been expecting this and instead of letting her take him down, he decided to get them both to the ground a little faster, and shot his legs backward while still keeping his bodyweight on top of Shino. With her attack now ineffective and the weight of the heavier man bearing down on her, Kurabayashi was forced to the deck with David having free reign to attack her back. Kurabayashi tried to turtle herself up and bring her knees and elbows together so that she would have some protection, but David had hooked his legs in between her elbows and knees, and rolled the turtle on its back, leaving her in a terrible position Which David decided to finish with a rear naked choke, just like what his opponent had done to li before.

Shino was panicking a little, she had finally found someone stronger than her. She tried to peel off David's arms but found that his grip was harder to break than she could have imagined. As the world got fuzzy, she accepted defeat and tapped out. Kuwahara helped separate David from his comrade as she gasped for breath, both soldier's shirts by now had changed from their original olive drab green, to almost black from their sweat as they both stood up, shook hands, and did a quick bro hug before Kuwahara held up David's hand as the winner.

Money once again changed hands as David and Kurabayashi walked back over to where kuwahara was. It turned out that when David had sprawled on shino, she had busted her nose pretty good and Archer saw to her as Kurokawa had David sit on a crate next to her. The circle broke up and the various, sailors, mechanics, etc. went their separate ways; some with more money than before, others with less.

"Nice fight" said Kurokawa

"Thanks Doc." Replied David as she gave him a quick check up to make sure that nothing required her attention.

"You know, I'm not a doctor" Says Kurokawa

"No, but you're the closest to one that we typically get. It's just habit for me."

"How long have you been a soldier now?"

"About six years now."

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"

"23, but I've been fighting since I was sixteen. It's a long story."

"Alright, well you're good now, so go back to what you were doing."

"Ok thanks Doc." Says David as he stands up and walks back to his room.

"Seven years of war, yet unaffected, strange" mutters Mari as she watched David's back disappear behind the curtain of his makeshift room.

(2 weeks later)

"I'm still getting over the fact that we're using these things for an assault on an imperial base."

"Intel on this area says that unless we show the local populace that we can win, they won't help us set up shop, so we help them help us help them."

"What?"

"Schwartz 1-1 to Phoenix 6-3, We are ready for launch, drop us when you're ready"

"Roger Schwartz 1-1, stand-by for drop."

David switched over from the command net to the tactical channel that had been set up between him and all of his soldiers

"My soldiers ,eh? Never thought that it'd get to this." says David

"Schwartz 1-1, you have a hot mike"

"Thank you 1-3." replied David sarcastically to Archer's callsign

It had been decided by David, Kurata, and Itami that there callsign would be Schwartz. Thus they had informed command and since there was only ten of them David had decided to make them first platoon of first company for the 666th. His objective was that when anyone managed to tap into their radio's that they would still be confused, so David was Schwartz 1-1; Archer, Schwartz 1-3; Itami, Schwartz 1-2; Kurokawa, Schwartz 1-4; Kurata, Schwartz 1-6; Kurabayashi, Schwartz 1-5; Lockpot, Schwartz 1-7; Spragg, Schwartz 1-8; Monat, Schwartz 1-9; and Tomita being Schwartz 1-10. Kuwahara had declined being a part of the assault team and instead chose to be the safety officer who gave the final inspection on everything that he could. He would be staying behind on board the Pioneer's Shepard and providing support wherever possible.

"Hey boss, You sure that this is gonna work? This idea still seems a little on the crazy side." asked Tomita

"Affirmative 1-10, Me and Yoko in the other pod here used to do this every month or so."

"Stop calling Me Yoko 1-1"

"But you share a lot with her, I see why David gave you that name." came Kurata's voice over the radio

"Kid, if you value your life, you'll keep silent." said Archer

"Now, now, 1-3, Lets not be harsh on Kurata." Said Kurokawa "Honestly what's wrong with that nickname."

"I mean, yeah, it's more of a compliment than anything." said Itami

"What do I have in common with her than being a kickass sniper?" asked Archer incredulously. She had watched a few episodes of the anime that Yoko as from and all that she saw was a bikini clad sniper who was a redhead.

"Well, you are a good shot"says Kurata

"You're easily pissed off by guys and can physically solve those problems." Says Itami

"I can bear testimony to that one" says David

"Who are you guys talking about?" asked everyone else in the group that was spread out between the three escape pods that the captain said that he could spare.

"We'll explain it when we get back" said David

"If we get back" said Monat, the bothan that had volunteered for the unit and the only non-human currently.

"1-8, let's get this straight right now, you don't kill the mood like that."

"I am simply stating the possibility of it happening, us Bothans are warriors who have accepted death long ago."

"Cool, the thing is that death isn't all that bad. It's quite peaceful, it's the transition that's the real bitch." Said David's and the escape pods began to become full of chuckles

"So when a grenade is pulled, God's instructions to him are You see that guy over there? kill him, and everyone around him" continued David

"Hey boss what did you do before all of this?" asked Lockpot after the laughter had died down

"Before all of what? Before I became a soldier?" asked David

"Yeah, You had to have done something before all of this." replied the mechanic

"I was a referee at a paintball field."

"Whats paintball?" asked Spragg

"Paintball is a magnificent sport where we use air powered guns to shoot little balls of paint at each other. They would explode when they made contact with you and if you got hit in the right place, it would really hurt. We had to wear full face masks, but I worked there and had a good time, how about you?"

"Hate to interrupt your talk guys but you have two minutes to get ready, we're almost in position." came Kuwahara's voice as he gave the group fair warning.

"Roger, alright guys prepare to drop, and remember 1-4, don't piss your pants kid." sai Archer

"Hey!"

The rest of the squad now shifted in their seats to where they were the most secure as possible. The two marines had warned them that an orbital drop was rather violent.

"Stand by to Drop Schwarzesmarken"

"Roger Phoenix, thanks for the ride" said Itami

"Alright dropping in 3...2..1.." When the countdown was over the ten soldiers were rapidly shot from the ship and out into space. When they exited the ship, they saw a green world through the open viewport, a few thousand kilometers away, there was an imperial light cruiser. Then the pods made contact with the atmosphere and the heat shield extended over the front window as the pod began aerobraking. To help ease the mood David decided to play some music that he thought fit the moment perfectly

David McCoy's Kick Ass playlist track 27

"Thunderstruck"

AC/DC

Play?

Out on patrol around the perimeter there was two stormtroopers making their rounds. They noticed three red streaks on the horizon.

"Hey, TG-6359, was there a meteor shower scheduled today?" asked one of the troopers

"Not as far as I know" replied the other

"Well at least we get something else to look at out here."

They continued on their patrol around the electric fence that spanned the perimeter.

"Hey YX-7893, Is it just me or are those comets getting bigger?"

"Yeah, I think that they are"

"You think we'll have to go and check them out when they land?"

"I hope so, It would be better than patrolling the fence all day."

"Too right"

As the two stormtroopers were on patrol having their conversation, the escape pods were on final approach to their intended target, the main courtyard in front of the barracks

_.

As the escape pods quit burning on their reentry, the viewport untinted itself so that the occupants could see where they were going again. David saw through the viewport that they were coming in a little fast and yelled to everyone "Brace" as the pod fired its emergency brakes and made contact with the ground.

_"Hey TG, did you here that?"asked YX

"Probably just the sound of you being an idiot" replied his battle buddy

"Shut up"

David quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and began climbing out of the pod as three other members of his pod stirred and did likewise after him as he opened the hatch and quickly jumped out, finding the courtyard empty. The song had ended when they made contact with the ground. He turned to see the other pods twenty meter away on either side of the rectangular courtyard with his pod being in the middle. The other two pods already were showing signs of life as the occupants climbed out and moved to cover like David had taught them.

Without being ordered to, they immediately set up a defense against the stormtroopers that responded quicker than they had thought. Two were dropped as they were leaving the door and the rest of the squad dove for whatever cover they could find in the front entrance. One quickly lobbed a grenade out the front door. It landed right at the feet of the Bothan, Kus Monat. He quickly kicked it back in the front door and detonated before the troopers could get away taking out three of the original fifteen now dropped to ten.

There was no cover at the doorway so David decided to just drop some more explosives down their throat and tossed two grenades in, one a few seconds before the other to catch the trooper's off guard. This double detonation destroyed another eight had left the rest dazed and easy pickings for the soldiers who quickly moved through the door and shot the remaining stormtroopers. The building was a simply laid out rectangle with an elevator being the only way up or down and that was at the front entrance. Spragg, and Kurabayashi covered the hallway to either side as David and Itami opened the elevator doors and Archer stuck some C12 with a motion sensor behind the camera as a surprise for anyone who decided to take the elevator down. Then she left and waited for the elevator to go back up to the top floor of the three story building. When it stopped at the top, A second passed before a dull bang sounded and the elevator fell to the basement with a loud screech then bang.

Two other stormtroopers had left their rooms and were quickly dispatched by the two guards as Archer, and David set up explosives on the columns supporting the area around the entrance which was the only way in or out other than jumping out of a window, of which there were few on this building big enough for a stormtrooper to jump out of.

As the two ODSTs finished working their magic David told the group "Schwarzesmarken, Time to move to objectives Bravo and Charlie. The assault team then split into two with David leading a group consisting of him, Archer, Kurokawa, Kurabayashi, and Monat towards the command building which was 200m away from the barracks and was coming alive with activity. Itami led Tomita, Spragg, Lockpot, and Kurata to the only gate in the facility which made for a nice means of keeping out intruders, but also made it difficult to take a force that had made it inside the base. Most of the Bases defences had been geared to an attack via infiltration, and not a direct assault via Escape pod. When everyone was outside the barracks Archer detonated the charges and made support from the barracks nearly impossible

As David made it to cover behind a storage shack next to the motor pool that was in between the HQ and the Barracks. Behind him was four TIE fighters arranged in a neat row, as per imperial regulations. When he stuck his head with his rifle out to look at the front gate of the HQ he was met with a blaster bolt to the face. He was knocked back but he scrambled back but he managed to scramble back behind cover as he ripped off his helmet quickly and Kurokawa actually shoved Archer and Monat out of the way to get to him and check on him. The helmet had taken the shot so that it would save his life but now the visor couldn't be used anymore. It was part melted and mostly cracked but still in one piece. David was covering his eyes with his arm as he grimaced in pain. Kurokawa left her rifle back where she was as she examined David.

The blast had blinded David for a few seconds, when he regained his vision gradually, he saw a flash of white armor to his left as he pushed Kurokawa aside, reached for his pistol, turned, drew, and fired at the stormtrooper who had decided that seizing the initiative would be a good idea. The problem was that he was also a quick shot and fired at the same time as david did. David's Pistol's bullet had been specifically designed in order to pierce armor, the flesh of the poor sod behind it, and exit out through the other side of the now holy creature, so it had no problem doing just that to this stormtrooper. David's armor on the other hand, at the chest plate had been specifically designed to deal with Plasma and spread the energy over the armor to dissipate the heat, which it did effectively, though the force of concentrated plasma still knocked him back into the Medic that he had been shielding.

The problem was that there was more than just one as Archer covered the one side that David had been blinded at along with Monat which left David, Kurokawa, and as the second one rounded the corner Kurabayashi tackled him with her knife and stabbed the stormtrooper. This however left her open and she was shot in the side of her neck and her armpit. David shot the stormtrooper who had shot Kurabayashi as he grabbed her by her vest and pulled her back behind cover. Kurokawa immediately began applying dressings to her friends neck as blood gushed out. Even the cauterization was not strong enough to hold back the tide of blood that led to the brain via the jugular. Kurabayashi was literally choking on her own blood as the hole in her neck allowed blood to flow into her throat and she struggled to breathe. Kurokawa tried sticking in gauze to block off the flow of blood into her throat but it didn't do much to help as more blood began to flow into her lungs. The last of the first band of stormtroopers were dispatched David turned back around and immediately helped to stop the flow of blood but he didn't have anything that could stop a wound like this. He grabbed Kurokawa's arm and shook his head as he looked down at the extent of damage.

Kurokawa looked back at him and said "No, I won't let her die"

"You don't have a choice, she's losing too much blood too fast, literally drowning in her own blood. All that we can do is numb the pain for her." said David in Japanese as he gestured at the sergeant.

"No, I can still save her" Replied the Medic without even stopping at the sound of her native tongue.

"A fully staffed clinic couldn't stop this,I know what you're feeling, but we can't let her keep suffering." Said David

Kurokawa was about to retort until Kurabayashi grabbed Kurokawa's arm and pleaded with her eyes, nodding at her. Knowing exactly what Kurabayashi was saying, Kurokawa turned away tears starting to run down her face. Kurokawa reached into Kurabayashi's first aid kit for the shot of morphine that had been issued to every japanese soldier. Popping the cap on it she quickly shot Kurabayashi with the Morphine. As it traveled through her system her Brown eyes dilated and her breath became less frequent. Her grip on Kurokawa's arm slackened until it fell limp and her breathing stopped all together. David closed her eyes and grabbed Kurokawa, pulling her out of her trance saying "You can grieve later, I' sorry but we're not done yet. She would have wanted you to keep fighting." before finding her rifle had been destroyed by a stray blaster bolt. The only other one was Kurabayashi's Blood soaked rifle. David passed Kurokawa his rifle, patted her helmeted head and picked up the dead woman's rifle as he Opened a radio channel to The Pioneer's Shepard.

"Schwartz 1-1 to Phoenix 6-3 We need firesupport 50 meters west-northwest of our current position!"

The radio buzzed with static for a second until a voice replied calmly"Roger "Schwartz 1-1 , Prepare for fire mission Danger-close ETA thirty seconds"

David turned to the rest of his team and said "get down and hold onto your helmets!"

A single ranging shot was fired, which landed two meters short and chucked rubble at the soldiers hiding behind the shack, then the effective fire began as the gunner found it's range and reigned hellfire on the stormtroopers in front of the HQ which besides the ones outside the fence was the bulk of troopers inside the facility. The hundred or so /stormtroopers had nowhere to run as the Heavy turbolaser blasts landed with deadly precision. David opened his eyes again and peeked around the corner again he saw only about three or so stormtroopers left and he looked at Lockpot and Monat and thumbing around the corner said "Deal with em." The Bothan nodded and lead the humans against the stormtroopers

Laying against the wall, The once lively and energetic sergeant lay peacefully. David unhooked her helmet and put it on himself to temporarily replace his and stood up. Kurokawa stayed sitting, clutching David's rifle in her hands. David reached out a hand and to his surprise she slapped it away and stood up on her own. She handed him his rifle back saying, "I will never take a life again. You use the rifle, i'll never use one on a person."

Before he knew what he was doing he shoved the rifle back in her hands and said "You will use this rifle, or you will die out here. You can't help anyone else if you're dead. Now stay close to me, I'll get ya outta this." Kurokawa nodded, seeing the logic in this. David then reached down to the dog tags around Kurabayashi's neck and removed one, in case they couldn't retrieve her body later, then stuck the blood covered piece of metal in his pocket.

Fifteen minutes later

Itami and his men had just received word from the Pioneer's shepherd that the imperial cruiser had arrived and was forcing them to leave. The locals who had agreed to help them were waiting three kilometers away from base and would bring them to their village which had agreed to become a base of operations. Itami and his soldiers had driven the stormtroopers back and had even captured two. The rest had retreated into the woods, thinking that it would be better to return with their allies who were on their way. Convoy with about a company of stormtroopers was returning from patrol along with other smaller felt the ground rumble and turned to see the HQ collapse. All present were impressed that two soldiers with enough explosives to carry in a single rucksack could level a building. Two minutes later Li Spragg, the rear guard of Itami's unit saw something that she always hated to see. A man whose clothing had turned brown from blood carrying a woman on his shoulders as he walked towards them with his didn't stop to talk, he already knew the situation and where to go, so he kept walking in silence, followed by Kurokawa who carried David's and Kurabayashi's rifle, and Archer. All were silent as they followed David out of the compound, down the road to the forest nearby, back to the people who would be sheltering them. A young boy who had come with his cousin to help carry anything that saw the warriors later told stories that would be forever retold throughout the mountains, of a bloodsoaked ghost who carried one of his sisters out of the forest to the town of Nastet, from the imperial base where they had destroyed everything. It would be used to inspire people to fight, and to warn their enemies what happens to those who oppress people.


	17. Chapter 17

In the back of a tarp covered speeder with benches along the sides facing inwards, the nine soldiers sat in silence,their fallen comrade resting in between them underneath a rain poncho in the middle of the bed. When the villager's saw the men returning from their battle with David and Kurokawa leading, many were shocked at what they saw. They had expected unkillable super soldiers, not two ghosts and seven other mortals Such was the nature of war, no one ever thought of losing. No one thought of losing the friend next to him, or dying themselves. The blood covered man simply kept walking in silence to the truck that they had brought with them, and some of the older villagers silently helped him put Kurabayashi's body in the middle and then helped him climb up. When the rest had done likewise David was at the frontmost spot on the truck, next to Kurokawa and behind her, his sister.

As they traveled on towards their new home, David and many others nodded off, their heads resting on each other's shoulders. They were thankful to be allowed that sort of peace and they were all too tired to care who they were sleeping on as David and Kurokawa's heads rested against each other, their bodies gently swaying with the movements of the speeder truck.

When they reached their destination, the driver came around and woke the first person in the line, who did the same for the next, and soon all of the soldiers were coming out and two of the village elders saw to Kurabayashi's body and the local doctor began trying to cut off David's clothes, thinking that all of this blood was his until he shoved the man back yelling "I'm fine, we're all fine!" When he looked around, he noticed that he had put too much force into the shove, and all of the villagers and his soldiers were looking at him.

David looked down the road that he had come down and noticed some trees and a hill leading up. He simply walked out of the small town and headed towards the woods, still covered in another woman's blood and wearing her helmet, as he tried to get out of sight. When he made it to the woods he kept walking until he found a lone tree on a hilltop. It was only once he reached that tree that he noticed that the moon was out. It was no longer daylight, and the moon was full, filling the valley with light. He saw terraced fields cut into the mountains, birds flying through the air, and absolute silence. This had been one of the few times that he had actually been alone before in a long time. For a soldier, this was hard because all that they were left with was their thoughts.

Before he could even think to stop himself, a tear flowed down his cheek and he found that he could no longer stand and fell to his knees at the base of the tree. One tear followed another and all of the pent up rage and sadness found itself wanting to leave him,not just for Kurabayashi, but for the fact that he had had to force one of his soldiers to pick up a rifle that she did not want to carry, or seeing someone lose a dear friend. He had known Kurabayashi now for almost a month, and he had already developed a bond to her. She had been a vibrant part of their group, always having energy to spare, even when he had found out that he couldn't go home, her nature had kept the whole group busy laughing or wrestling.

"Why did you save me?" asked David. He knew that that blaster bolt was going to be hitting him if it hadnt been for that crazy sergeant. So instead, she took two for him.

"What makes me special?" he asked again as he tried to wipe his face with his hand, only to find that it was still red and that he had just spread it to his face. Looking down, he finally realized why he felt so heavy.

Silently, he took off the helmet that had once belonged to Kurabayashi and set it at his side, then his vest followed by his jacket and gloves until he was shirtless and lying there against the tree, tears still flowing down his face.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, but he felt so tired that he didn't care. It wasn't until he was woken by a shaking hand that he saw his sister moving him, a worried look on her face. David stood up and dried his eyes with his hands and looked around. The moon was much higher now, and the breeze had picked up a little. He looked around at his scattered clothing and saw that not one item was clean. Archer went around helping him pick up his kit, And David helped her by picking up his clothing. When he was done, they left the hilltop, also leaving behind David's grief. He had mourned his fallen soldier and would fight on to keep what she fought for alive, no matter what.

The village of Nastet was a simple one road affair that connected all of the outlying farms in the area. The villagers had been subject to imperial taxes for too long now. They figured that the best defence against a force like the empire was a good offense. The Locals had taken to calling the rebels by the names of the ghosts from old folklore. They were the black ghosts, who were not ever seen, but they came in the night to help those in need, and end those who would harm others unjustly. The ghosts were the best at what they do because they fought as if they were dead and wore the Schwartz marken into battle. When they were done they evaporated into the air, the Imperials unable to find any evidence of their foes. Nastet itself was searched many times over, but nothing was ever found.

In the barn of a small farm 15 kilometers away from the town of Nastet David McCoy was stacking square bales of hay. They were what was left of the recent harvest that had come and He had a lot of work to do. A month had passed since he had come to town, he had since become a part of the community, working at farms all through the region that needed help with the harvest. The work that he did covered the rent that he paid to his landlady who also happened to be his source of food at night. He had plugged in his headphones before he began the long and hard task of stacking all of the bales of hay in the barn to be stored for the winter when the snow came. As the sound of a familiar song entered his ears he turned up the volume a little and resumed his work. To the sound of a single acoustic guitar

"There's a man goin' 'round takin' names

And he decides who to free and who to blame

Everyone won't be treated the same

There'll be a golden ladder reachin' down

When the man comes around"

The two doors were open that led into the barn as David continued to work, letting in a cool breeze. As he worked, he saw his boss walk around the corner along with Tomita, Kurokawa, and Itami. Unplugging his earplugs, David took off his gloves and walked down to where they were, then his boss left them while telling david that he had fifteen minutes, before leaving them in peace.

"What's up guys?" asked David

"Word just came down" Said Itami "We came to let you know that we're leaving."

"All of you guys?" asked David.

"Yeah" replied Kurokawa "We figured that we'd say goodbye to you before we said bye to Shino."

The memory brought David back. Two day's after they had arrived the service for Kurabayashi's death was carried out. No one had the means to give her a full military funeral or was it possible to bring in any next of kin. A twenty-one gun salute was given and the playing of Taps. They buried her underneath a tree near a well traveled path with a simple marker saying in Japanese and Republic Basic

Kurabayashi, Shino

A true fighter

David travelled that path every time that he traveled to the hilltop that he loved to rest at. Something about that place always drawed him towards it. It was always peaceful, just far enough away from the path to be quiet, while still being easily found, and providing a spectacular view of the valley. It was his favorite place, and where he often spent his alone time.

"Well, I hope that I get to see you guys again soon." said David to his fellow soldiers as he shook each of their hands. He knew that they were leaving soon and knew that anything more would be awkward. Tomita was being assigned to a training unit alongside his First Sergeant, Kuwahara. Itami was being reassigned to work with the rebels counter intelligence group. His exploits of never being found when he didn't want to be had reached their superiors and they saw it fit to move him to a different occupation. Kurokawa had been recalled to be trained as an officer in Phoenix squadron, after that only god knew. Soldiers came and went, but their mission would continue. As they left, David watched them, and before they got into the speeder that would take them to the nearest space port Kurokawa turned and waved at David. He waved back, then took a quick swig from his canteen that he kept with him when he was working, and resumed his work.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N

Just so that you all know, I've been going through my old chapters and re-editing them. I had written them about a year ago when my writing wasn't as refined as it is currently. I could also use some help if any of you are looking to kill some time. If you are free, PM me and we can get started. Also, for God's Sake, Friggin review!

Now, you get to see my development of warfare. For those of you who are curious, it is now 3BBY.

(1 ½ years later)

Planet Ainok

Village of Nastet

The war on Planet Ainok had not been an easy one. It had been a guerilla one, which was very time consuming but had it's advantages. You could maintain a sense of normalcy whenever there was no war to fight such as what happened between battles. The Schwartz marken had even become part of a town of friendly people who sheltered them and their weapons in such an ingenious way that not even the imperials could figure it out.

Some had died, some had joined, but something stayed the same on the planet. The natural beauty of the land stayed the same, no matter what. The leader of the Schwartz marken was now taking advantage of that natural beauty and calm of the morning, unaware that an old friend would be paying him a visit.

The green grass moved gently with the soft breath of the wind on a hill underneath the shade of a tree. The hill belonged to a great many others like it in the great mountains that resided in the northern hemisphere of the planet, home to a great store of life.

The warm kiss of the sun rested on the legs of a man who was wearing a blue T-shirt, jeans, tan combat boots and a green boonie cap. He was in a moment of bliss as he felt the caress of nature with his head lying on a pillow that he made out of his jacket, and his hat covering his face from the wind in complete silence.

For the moment at least.

"You know, there are soldiers out there fighting right now, and here you are napping."

The man underneath the hat smiled a little at the sound of the owner's voice "Nice to see you too Kurokawa"

"It's Lieutenant Kurokawa now, Lieutenant." The now Kurokawa, Mari was standing next to her old leader, David McCoy. She was dressed in a black T-shirt, tan pants, and black boots, her hair let down across her back as it was gently caught in the breeze.

"Well then congrats on the promotion XO. How's the commander treating you?"

"How'd you know that I was the XO?"

"Intuition"

"Listen, while you're here you should at least be doing something. You could be training or…"

"You know, this is the perfect time of year for this region. The weather is perfect, and it's just in between the dry season and winter, so everything is alive. Honestly it would be a sin to waste such a day not resting, and enjoying this planet. You never know when you'll get the opportunity again, so take a moment for yourself and enjoy it." interrupted David

"I can't waste time napping out here. I came here because I was ordered to."

"Your loss, the grass is quite soft after all, it can't hurt to take a break for a few minutes. I'm not going anywhere for a little while. Besides, you were the one telling me to take it easy, remember?"

Kurokawa grimaced a little at her former superior's demeanor. She didn't want to wait around but she looked around and couldn't help but agree with him. She had been working almost non-stop for the past month and the grass did indeed feel great underneath her hand. Looking over at the lieutenant she noticed that he fallen back asleep.

"Well I guess a ten minute break couldn't hurt." Said Kurokawa as she lied down a meter away from David. The grass and the breeze felt amazing against her skin as it caressed her, the tree kept the light out of her eyes and the heat of the sun kept her warm and comfortable.

"Just ten minutes" Mari told herself as she closed her eyes.

The sun had risen enough by now to where it was now poking through the leaves so that it was landing patch like as David woke up and stretched his body out and looked around. When he looked to his right he jumped a little, startled by what he saw. There lying in the grass, slightly curled up was Kurokawa. She had managed to turn onto her left side a little in her sleep, and the breeze had blown her hair across her body as she slept, her chest moving evenly as she breathed. David didn't really know how to react to seeing her like this. His first thought was to leave her in peace, but then he thought that he should at least keep an eye on her, so that she wasn't alone. He settled for sitting at the base of the tree and looking out at the mountains.

It was afternoon when the medic woke up. She had bed hair and woke up bleary eyed, a small line of drool rolling down her cheek. She stretched and scanned her surroundings. As she was stretching her arms, she noticed David sitting at the base of the tree smiling at her. She smiled back and looked out at the mountains, seeing the setting sun. When she recognized that the sun was setting and not rising she instantly tensed up and gave David a death glare that would make the gods shiver, causing David to spring behind the tree rapidly. Kurokawa was about to tear David a new ass until she stopped herself. She felt amazing now after that rest. She couldn't do any harm to a man who had given her such an amazing area to stay in. She released her anger as David peeked back around the tree and she stood up.

"One meal" said Kurokawa

"Huh?" asked David confused

"You get one meal on me, my treat." Repeated Kurokawa as she averted her eyes to the ground, trying to hide how red her face had turned.

The two soldiers were walking down the main street when David saw an old woman who he had come to know and waved at her to get her attention.

"Hey Miss Harhubb, I won't be needing dinner tonight."

The old woman smiled, waved, and said "Alright, good luck on your date now"

Both David and Kurokawa stood up as straight as possible and David turned around blathering to his landlady that "No It's not a date, or anything like that."

"Well when a young man walks into town with a young and attractive girl saying that he won't need dinner, one typically thinks that they're gonna have dinner together." replies the old woman.

"I mean we are, but it's not like that" replied David nervously as Kurokawa grit her teeth and kept walking down the road blushing tremendously. Noticing that she was walking down the road David quickly said at the smiling woman "You won't be smiling when I beat you at Sabacc again"

"We'll see young man. We shall see." replied the woman as David jogged to keep up with Kurokawa.

In the Black Lizard Bar, David and Kurokawa sat down at the bar. The bartender had become familiar with David by now and slid him his usual drink, a tankard of ale. Noticing that there was no music on, David got up and walked over to the wall mounted radio, and tuned it. Kurokawa ordered a glass of water first, then she began to listen to the music. It seemed strange at first, it wasn't like the music that she had heard in the last year, but it seemed familiar. As David was walking back over, the bartender wrapped his arm around David's neck and pulled him into the kitchen.

The bartender turned out to be Alimal Lockpot. He hadn't shaved in a while and his face had a scruffy look to it. His brown hair was held up by a red headband and he was wearing a simple button up shirt. When they were safely inside the kitchen he asked excitedly "Dude, you never told me that you had eyes for her. Why the sudden change?"

"Dude, its not a date. She just said that she'd pay for dinner tonight, and you know that I like the food here."

"What did you do? Come on don't spare any details, you can tell me." Said Alimal as he hugged him a little closer. David pushed him off of him and simply told him "I told her to take a break and relax. She relaxed a little too much, and I watched out for her and she wants to pay me back."

"Well now, look at you, making moves on the ladies."

"Well if you'd excuse me, My landlady already had the same idea as you and I don't want the whole town getting all riled up over this. The last thing I need is everyone asking about how my date. Now I just wanna drink my beer and eat my dinner." said david as he walked back out to the bar

"Alright bro, but good luck." said Lockpot as he walked back to his spot behind the bar.

Kurokawa had now recognized what was strange about the music, it was from her world. She remembered it from when she visited America, It was Johnny Cash _._

Looking at David she asked "Why is there music on the radio from our galaxy?"

He smiled as he leaned back in his chair and said "It was an idea of mine to help boost morale in the region. Originally it got shot down by commander Sato, until I went ahead and did it anyways. Its set up to be played through multiple relays so that the empire can't pin them down. I gave the radio stations a bunch of songs and the people love it. It also provides actual news about what's going on in the galaxy, so that a well informed populace can help us out.

"You disobeyed an order?" asked Mari surprised. She expected someone who was a soldier for so long to follow any order

"When in the absence of a chain of command, the ranking officer has command. We lost radio contact for a little bit." Says David "That's probably why I'm still a lieutenant though"

"Why don't you do anything to advance? You could be a major right now." says Kurokawa

"Don't you know Kurokawa, The good Lieutenant has no desire to advance." says Alimal as he wipes out a glass

"Just like Itami huh?"

"Yep" says David "An officer leads by example. It's kinda hard to do that in the rear echelon."  
"Well then captain McCoy, I guess that you'll keep on leading then." Says Mari just as their food arrives from the kitchen

"I guess I will then" Says David as he took a drink from his cup, as Alimal and Kurokawa sat there staring at him, waiting. David suddenly choked on his drink and began spluttering all over the bar. Kurokawa and Alimal sat there laughing as Kurokawa pulled a small box out of her pocket and slid it over to David. Inside was a metal plaque that gets pinned on your chest when you are in uniform, It had two red dots in a vertical line. David's fatigues currently had the single dot patch signifying Lieutenant sewn onto his shoulder in a green/black pattern so that it didn't interfere with his camo.

"What? Why am I a captain now?" asked David trying to wipe the ale off of his shirt

"Commander Sato figured that we needed some more authority in our officers, and to reward your time with us. You're still the CO of the 666th, but we can't have you getting picked on by the other commanders who outrank you."

"Or their XOs" said David as he smiled at Kurokawa

"Or us XOs" Smiled Kurokawa

"Congrats man" said Lockpot who currently held the rank of lieutenant JG and was the 666th's third ranking officer, behind David's sister Archer. They had taken to now calling each other brother and sister now. David blamed it on them both wanting to keep something from their old lives. She also chose that moment to walk into the bar as Lockpot slid him another cup. There was only a single door in and out, and the bar itself was made of local timber so that it resembled a bar that one would find in the pioneer days of the American northwest, minus the electric lights. Archer made her way over to the bar and took a seat and Kurokawa did a quick examination of her as she sat down.

Archer had grown out her hair to where it reached the small of her back when she let it down. She had decided to keep it in a simple ponytail as usual. She had dressed in a red t-shirt with a leather jacket, a brown cap, jeans and the same boots as David, which had become the universal work boot for both of them. She was a teacher now at a local school, filling the minds of children with knowledge that was genuine, and useful. Her student's loved her, but she was also strict when she needed to be.

"What's the extra drink for Lockpot? Your boss doesn't need to be in debt." Asked Archer as she had a tankard placed in front of her.

"That one is on me as a gift, your brother just climbed a step up the ladder." Archer looked over at the box in David's hand, where she saw the three red dots and smiled. Patting David on the back she said "congrats bro."

"Thanks, now if I'm not careful, I'm gonna get my own company."

The 666th had grown from its original nine soldiers, to 28 soldiers in the past year. Though they were kind of on their own, they were still technically attached to Phoenix squadron and thus received volunteers from the fleet and some additions from the local population. They were due to receive one more soldier in a week to give Archer the spotter that she had been asking for. David had always been one to lead up front while Archer sat in uncomfortable positions and somehow managed to keep her heart rate from spiking. She had been needing a spotter though for some time because one stormtrooper had managed to sneak up on her and she had only been saved by the trap that she had made in case of such situations. The scope on the rifle that she had been issued didn't have that wide of a view angle, and she became absolutely focused on nothing but the next shot. Since then, Lockpot had been substituting for one, but he wasn't very good at staying still.

"Well, you're one soldier closer, because I've been reassigned to you guys as your new surgeon."

"Surgeon, eh? Youve been busy learning haven't you?" said David

"Well the fleet surgeon trained me up and got me promoted so here I am."

"Well, then welcome back to the 666th Mari" Said Archer as she held up her cup

David and Alimal held up a cup as they drank to the addition of one more soldier to the Schwartz Marken.

"Captain, eh?"


End file.
